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Maze Building
Just a few observations:
The number of joints in the base of the maze should be minimized and should
NEVER go down the middle of the passages. There is no such thing as a flat
surface 9ft square, and everything warps anyway.
Post and wall mazes always have some loose walls because the posts/base wear
and/or the base warps.
I remember the wall with nails approach mentioned by Dr Billingsley with
affection. A hammer came in handy to assemble it sometimes, but it was
strong. I believe Dave Woodfield made one and may still have a set of walls?
The only problem I remember was some "fancy" electronic mice had trouble
seeing through the gaps between walls at joints. Of course, more robust mice
such as Sterling had no such problem.
If you want to encourage more people to build mice an 8x8 maze with 14 inch
wide passages would make it easier to build mice. Many existing mice would
be able to run this, including Sterling. Smaller passages would make it much
harder for Lego builders to compete.
If you want a race I have always thought starting two mice from opposite
corners of a maze and letting them race to the midle would be great for the
spectators. The maze would need to be (a)symmetrical, but this is not a
problem to design. There could be heats and a final and timing would not be
required.
Nick
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