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Re: Draft Rules for Schools Micromouse Competition
I have great difficulty with rules that exclude people from taking part.
This is particularly important if you want to encourage entrants.
1. There should be no width or length constraints. Why exclude people who
cannot (or don't want) to build small mice?
2. There should be a new rule saying "Mice that do not meet rules 3. to 5.
will be allowed to compete if there is time but will only be eligible for the
minor prizes." If someone has spent weeks developing a mouse but hasn't
finished it I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to demonstrate it, even
if this means they have to use an umbilical.
3. Why must all team members be nominated in advance (rule 8)?
4. The sentence starting "All rules and guidelines may be changed..." is a
bit frightening. Are you seriously suggesting that a mouse might be excluded
at short notice by a change in the rules? If you must have a rule like this
I suggest you replace "changed or amended" by "relaxed".
5. The Rat Race penalty is interesting. A large fixed penalty effectively
disqualifies a rat that hits the end wall. A penalty based on the time the
rat takes is not appropriate as it suggests it is better not to brake at all
if you are going to hit the end wall anyway. You really want a penalty that
reduces as the run time goes up. A better idea might be to apply a 30%+
discount to the times of mice that do manage to stop in time.
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