Sumo Stall outs

Mr. Lewis

I am a teacher with an advanced course where we complete chapters 5-8 of the BOE-Bot, then move on to the Sumo-Bot Competition. I have 6 Sumo Competition kits and we are just finishing the programs in chapters 4 & 5. When my students go to wrestle the bots, the Sumos sometimes just stop - this happens about 60% of the time. I have downloaded the code from the web and tested it and they still stop. It seems to occur most often when they touch either the QTIs with the plow or when the plows hit. Sometimes they stop for a bit and then reset at the 5s countdown, other times they just wait. We have tested with brand new batteries and the same behavior occurs.

Would this be caused by loose QTIs, metal plows shorting each other, or some other possibility that we have overlooked. The students have covered a strip of the front of the plow with electrical tape and it has reduced, but not stopped, the behavior. Any ideas would be helpful.

Tim Lewis
GLHS Science

Franklin

Loose QTIs or other parts are most likely. Could be a loose battery connection or power drain from some part causing the stamp to reset. Shorting between bots is not likely though.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
- Stephen

Mr. Lewis

Thanks. We'll try to tighten everything down tomorrow.

Tim