Brickheap Wars!

General Information

Brickheap wars is a Lego robotics construction challenge event styled after the popular TV show Junkyard Wars.  Teams compete head to head building a robot to the challenge provided, using identical sets of Lego parts, and then the robots are evaluated to determine which robot best performs the event challenge.  There are no prizes, no champagne, no fame, no fortune for the winning team, just the satisfaction of being chosen as the best from the event coordinators and other teams.

Previous Challenges:

What to Bring

Your team needs to bring the following items:

  1. A laptop computer, with power supply, extension cord, and your chosen development environment installed, tested, and ready for use.
  2. An IR tower or NXT USB cable.
  3. An RCX or NXT with fresh batteries.
  4. 9v Mini-Motors and wires (or NXT motors).  Bring at least 3 of the normal mini-motors (4 recommended)  You can bring more and other types of motors, but 3 or 4 of the normal mini-motors will be sufficient for the challenges we have in mind.  Bring at least as many wires as motors.  Often it is useful to use wires as an extension to have a motor or sensor further from the RCX than a single short wire will permit, so bringing more of the short wires for that purpose is a good idea (or bring some longer wires).
  5. Lego sensors.  Only stock Lego sensors (RCX or NXT type) are permitted.  Bring at least 2 light sensors (3 suggested) and 2 touch sensors (3 suggested).  It is also suggested that you consider bringing at least one rotation sensor if you are using an RCX, as those can be handy for certain types of robots (this is not a hint as to the nature of the challenge, just past experience).  NXT teams can also bring and use the ultrasonic sensors.
  6. A couple of brick separators.
  7. A Lego IR controller or an NXT equivalent.
  8. Spare batteries!!!

If your team has difficultly assembling sufficient motors or sensors, please let us know and we can bring some for you to borrow.  Teams may also find it useful to bring a pad of paper and pencils to sketch out designs and ideas. No other parts (Lego or otherwise) can be used in the competition.

Rules

  1. The only components that can be used in constructing your team's robot for the competition are those in the supplied parts kits plus your RCX or NXT, motors, wires, and sensors as noted in the "What to Bring" section above.  You may not add components of your own or from another team.
  2. Robots must be autonomous.  No use of IR control from a laptop or remote will be permitted during the evaluation period.
  3. Your team can test the robot or components using whatever facilities are provided for the evaluation of the robots to test out concepts and your robot design prior to the actual evaluation period.
  4. Programming language, firmware, and runtime environment is open (NQC, BrickOS, RobotC, etc.).

Suggestions

  1. Teams of 4-6 people seem to work well.
  2. Determine ahead of time who will be the team lead, who will head up programming and who will head up mechanical design and construction.  Make sure everyone has a job.
  3. Review the kit inventory ahead of time, so you are familiar with the parts that you will have to construct the robot.
  4. Make sure you test out your laptop, IR tower or NXT USB cable, RCX or NXT, and programming environment prior to the event.
  5. Use the 15 minute period between when you are given the kits and the start of the challenge to sort and organize the parts to enable more rapid construction of your design.

Team Colors

We have put together 10 parts kits.  Each kit is based on a certain Lego color.  If your team prefers a certain color, please let us know.  The available colors are:

  1. Black
  2. Dark bluish grey
  3. Dark grey
  4. Light grey
  5. White
  6. Yellow
  7. Blue
  8. Red
  9. Green
  10. Orange

FAQ

  1. Q:  Does the parts kit for the event include the same components as the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System?
    A:  No.  While it shares many of the same components, it leaves out components that we have found less useful for building functional robots (e.g., who needs an Animal Dragon Wing to build a functional robot?).
  2. Q:  Can we use pre-built libraries of handy robotic subroutines to help accelerate our programming?
    A:  Sure, although our experience is that such libraries aren't likely to be of significant use for the types of challenges we use for these events.  At some point in time we are likely to have a challenge that requires line tracking, so having experience or code that does that well could be helpful if the challenge includes line tracking.
  3. Q:  We've never had success with the rotation sensors.  Are they really useful?
    A:  Rotation sensors aren't read accurately with the stock firmware.  They can, however, still be used to detect movement, which is useful to known if an axle has stopped moving.  Alternate firmware for the RCX has also made these sensors work accurately (BrickOS).  The NXT motors include built-in rotation sensors that work well, so we can all thank Lego for that!
  4. Q:  What age range is appropriate for team members?
    A:  We've had team members as young as 5 participate, although clearly a team member's ability to contribute to the robot is limited to their experience with building Lego mechanisms and robots.  Even someone who has limited building ability can be helpful if they are familiar with Lego parts and can help locate the pieces needed for the next stage of construction of your team's robot.
  5. Q:  Wow, those are some cool parts in the supplied parts kit!  Where can I purchase those?
    A:  Bricklink is a great resource for purchasing Lego parts.  Also, Lego Education is a great source for motors and sensors.
  6. Q:  Can we suggest additional parts for the parts kit?
    A:  Sure.  Send suggestions to kenworth@msn.com.