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The Apollo 13 Obstacle Course

The Obstacle Course, 2018

Aim of the Challenge

  • To overcome the obstacles and return the crew back safely to earth.
  • Failure is not an option on this tricky course!

Control Method

  • Remote-controlled

Time Limit

  • 7 minutes

Rules

  • The course will not be revealed until the day of the competition.
  • All obstacles must be attempted.
  • You may skip obstacles after first attempting them, but you will not gain points for skipped obstacles.
  • You are allowed to attempt the challenge up to three times within the 7 minute time limit.

Ranking and Points

  • The fastest time taken to complete the obstacle course out of three possible runs will be ranked and the following points awarded.
    • 1st: 40 points
    • 2nd: 32 points
    • 3rd : 25 points
    • 4th : 18 points
    • 5th : 15 points
    • 6th : 12 points
    • 7th : 10 points
    • 8th : 8 points
    • 9th : 6 points
    • 10th : 4 points
    • 11th : 2 points
    • 12th : 1 point

Additional Points

  • 50 points will be awarded for each successfully completed obstacle on your fastest run.
  • 30 additional points will be awarded for each run in which you negotiate all obstacles successfully. (i.e. a ‘clean’ drive with no rescues and no skipped obstacles).

Penalties

  • For each skipped obstacle, your overall time will be increased by 20 seconds.
  • Rescues of your robot are penalty-free if you’d like to re-attempt an obstacle to get the points. This, of course, comes at the expense of time.

Hints

  • You must not walk on the course.
  • Position yourself in a place where you can see the whole course before you start your attempt.
  • You are allowed to walk around the sides of the course during the run.
  • Top-heavy robots may have difficulties on some of the obstacles; keep your centre of gravity low.
  • Good ground clearance may be advantageous.
  • Robots with good grip and the ability to drive up slopes have done well on this challenge in the past.

Ask Questions and Discuss

You can discuss this challenge and ask questions on the discussion forum or via Discord chat.