Improve Your Build
Answer the following questions in your engineering notebook as you think about the challenge.
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Was your course scaled the same as the other teams? If not, what units/scale were you using compared to them and how will you get them all in the same units?
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What areas of the course should you keep in mind as you are altering/combining them?
Teacher Toolbox
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Answers will vary, but if the course was not to scale one team may have been using feet or cm while another may have been using meters or cm. Converting to the same units is important. The students also have to be using the same scale, for example one team may view 1 meter as 10 mm while another might have viewed 1 meter as 5 mm. The units and scale have to be the same to combine courses.
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Possible answers are areas such as corners. The areas to be wide enough to allow the robot through.
Think about the questions below. Record your thoughts and observations in your engineering notebook.
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Why is it important to ensure the scale and units are the same for both teams?
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If you changed the scale in your sketch to represent a larger difference in scale, how would that effect the overall challenge?
Teacher Toolbox
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If they were not the same, then the robot may seem on paper that it is traveling a farther or shorter distance compared to what it is actually traveling.
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Answers may vary but should include that the robot will have to travel further and take more time to complete the challenge.