NRC 2008 - Ideas and Thoughts

I have been studying the NRC lower and upper secondary question. I must admit, it won't be an easy competition this year. There are so many things that we could consider. The list is endless, and if you need to test any and every combination, it would be a huge task.

Anyway, I will list down the stuff that we need to consider

Vehicle Design

• Build using studless design, or traditional lego bricks with studs?
• Using the NXT or RCX motor?
• Have 1 or 2 motor as the driving force?
• Do you use gearing to make the vehicle go faster?
• Do you use tracks, 2 or 4 wheels?

Mechanical Arm

• Using NXT or RCX motor?
• When you grab the object is it from top down, or from the sides?

Software

• Design using the Lego NXT-G software or Robolab 2.9?
  

Light Sensor Design

• Do you use RCX or NXT light sensors?
• Do you use 1,2,3 or 4 light sensors?

Overall strategy

• Do we hard code the software to run without considering the tracks (black lines)?
• Do we use a line following algorithm to move through the playing field?

So many different consideration. So many options. I guess, there is no 1 right answer. One may build a better robot, but without a good software design, it may not be able to complete the task and vice versa. To truly win the competition, the team must have a great design, in both software and hardware as well as speed and reliability.