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**The contest is set for __Saturday April 2nd, 2011 at Meadville High School__**. With our region’s participation in last year’s national competition over the summer, we’ve decided to adopt their official rules and completion regulations for our local event for obvious continuity. I don’t think you’ll find any large differences between these and the old BOTS IQ stuff we used in the past. I’ve attached the new documents that we’ll be using now. NRL Competition Rules and NRL Technical Regulations (NRL stands for National Robotics League) you can also find these documents and other stuff regarding the national competition at their web-site [|www.gonrl.org] We’re tentatively planning to provide a cash stipend for the winning team at our regional event to attend this national event during the summer of 2011. As we did last year, I’ll have to wait to commit to this until we see how our funding and grant money shape up. __A couple noteworthy items on Rules:__
 * __Rules:__**

1.) It has been noted by several spectators, sponsors, and teams that we have had some teams with an in-ordinate amount of adult assistance during the competition. To keep things on an even playing field, we’ll be more rigidly enforcing the rule I’ve copied below regarding a team’s adult assistance during the competition. (This does not limit the number of technical advisors a team can have during the build and testing of the bot prior to the competition, only those that are in the pits offering assistance during the competition) NOTE NRL 1210 COMPETITION RULE **# 2.3 Teams :** A Team is defined by its name and its affiliated school or youth organization. A team includes at least three //students// and at least one adult //Coach// and a single //Technical Advisor//. There is no limit to the number of students allowed on a team. . Definitions and responsibilities are as follows: a) The //Coach// is ultimately responsible for the students and should be at least 18 years old and affiliated with the school or organization (Teacher, Instructor). An individual may only coach one team. // (We’ll wave this for teachers with more than one team) // b) A //Technical Advisor// is someone that assists the team and offers them advice. They may be from the school or organization or they may be from a local company. There is no limit to the amount of teams a //Technical Advisor// helps. c) //Students// on the team must be in middle school, high school or a post secondary educational institution. Each S//tudent// must have contributed to the design and construction of the robot. They may be asked questions about the robot by a NRL representative during a competition. A //Student// may only be a member of one team. 2.) Robot Radio Receiver Failsafe. Many will recall we had some anguish last year with availability of Spektrum’s BR6000 radio receiver. The BR model was designed to provide failsafe shutdown on all channels in the event signal is lost from the controller. Spektrum has discontinued the BR6000 receiver. I’ve spoken to a Spektrum tech who has indicated the only receiver they now offer with a full failsafe mode on all channels is the model #AR7000, part number SPM6070. However: The SPM6070 receiver is not compatible with the DX6 Spektrum radio/ controllers most of us are using. You must upgrade to a DX6i or DX7 radio to use this receiver. The tech confirmed that currently they have __no__ receiver for the old DX6 radios that will failsafe on all channels. Now, some of you have done some testing with other AR series receivers that may still be compatible with the DX6 radios most of us have. Spektrum does have receivers that will failsafe all channels to a safe position **__except__** the throttle, which will failsafe to the position it was when “Bound” to the controller. Obviously it’s extremely important that the binding operation be performed with the throttle input in the absolute closed position or the bot will continue moving even when signal is lost. (**__Be careful__**, read the Spektrum literature or call a tech because Spektrum also has AR receivers designed for airplanes that **__hold__** all of the last inputs when the signal is lost – these will not work as bots would remain in motion with active weapons) So – for this year’s tech inspection this test procedure that I’ve copied from the rules will be used to validate each bot’s failsafe when the signal from the controller is lost. __Please, Please run this test several times__ with your bot controller and receiver to be sure that it works properly. Your bot will not be allowed to compete if it doesn’t pass this test. We can’t compromise the safety of those that enter the arena to retrieve a bot that is still moving. **__The NRL 1220 technical rules state:__** 4.3.1. Radio systems that stop all motion in the robot (drive and weapons), when the receiver loses power or signal, are required for all robots. This may be inherent in the robots electrical system or be part of programmed fail-safes in the radio. Our safety inspection will require the bot to be place into a clockwise drive wheel spin and then the radio shut off. The bot must stop all motion. Then the same check will be performed counter clock wise. The third failsafe check is the weapon will be activated and then the radio shut off. The weapon must stop in the rules required time. Rule10.2. Spinning weapons must come to a full stop within **30 seconds** of the power being removed. If the bot passes these test then rule 4.3.1 has been satisfied.
 * It is assumed that the students do the majority of the work on the robot with adult supervision.**