Blinking Dark Monster

Blinking Dark Monster

2-wheel Differential Drive
Can score both left and right sides by using just one servo
Hands for catching the skunk ball
Lots of LEDs

Team Members

  Thananat Jitapunkul
  Surat Teerapittayanon
  Phumpong Watanaprakornkul

Jacob has ﬁnally died after three weeks of strenuous travelling. Your dejected party treads into Fort Bennings with two oxen and a battered wagon. Famished and weather-beaten, you grieve the death of your only marksman by binging on the remaining 600 pounds of meat. With only $150 left in your pockets, all that the townspeople are willing to sell you are a box of legos and a 6.270 Happyboard (version 2.0).

Now, faced with 1000 more miles between you and Oregon, you must hunt your way through the grueling landscape for food. The competition is stiﬀ. What’s worse: the newly enacted Environmental Protection Act of 1827 punishes all those who hunt more than they can carry. Unable to hit the ﬂat side of a barn at 20 paces, your party’s only hope lies in engineering the perfect bot to help you fulﬁll your 2,000 calorie dietary requirement.

Will your story be another Oregon legend of engineering miracle, or will you die of dysentary in the foothills of the Rockies?

Rules

The objective of the game is to score exactly the number of points determined at the beginning of each match.
At the start of each round, each team will start with exactly 6 balls. They can be placed anywhere within the robot or on the starting square. The robot will be told the goal number before the start of the match.
The number of "table points" that a team receives corresponds to the number of balls in their designated scoring zones at the end of the game. Each competitor has three scoring zones, each with an associated point value. The precise setup is described by the following map.
If a team deposits a ball in their opponent's scoring zone, the ball will neither aﬀect the score of the team or the score of the opponent. In fact, the ball will be regarded as out of play.
A competitor will gain one "penalty point" for every "table point" diﬀerent from the objective. Note the diﬀerence between one "table points," which are points that a team acquire by despositing balls in scoring zones, and "penalty points," which are points that we will use to access the team’s performance.
A team can aﬀect their opponent’s score using the "skunk" ball (denoted by the large YELLOW dot on the map above). The skunk ball will assign four penalty points to a team if it is within that team's starting zone at the end of the match.
The round ends after 60 seconds of game-play. All points and penalties will be evaluated when the board is settled, i.e. when the robots have stopped to move, and the balls have stopped rolling. Upon evaluation, the team with the least penalty points will be declared the winner.

Strategy

Follow the wall until the robot is in front of the 2-point bin. Drop balls in the amount of calculated number.
Continue quickly to the end of the arena side
Turn 90 degrees and continue slowly along the new line and try to capture the skunk ball.
If it happens that the robot fails to capture the skunk ball, simply continues the task without heeding the skunk ball anymore.
Rotate 90 degrees and drop balls into the 1-point bin
Move along to the 4-point bin and then drop balls into it
The robot moves onto the opponent’s start point. After that, it stops in the area
If the robot detects the other robot approaching, turn to the opposite wall and go straight to that wall, then turn 180 degrees and go back to where it leaves