Detector Building C

[windu34]

Detector Building C: Teams will build a durable temperature sensing device that will accurately measure and display temperatures between zero degrees Celsius to 75 degrees Celsius to determine the temperature of four different water samples.

Detector Building Wiki

Texas Instruments Resources

Past Threads: 2018, 2019

[LIPX3]

Does anyone feel as though the rules for this event are rather odd? Especially concerning the scoring - it seems as though scores will be very close, and qualified competitors will only be separated by performance on the written portion of the event. And why are points assigned for that region just out of 30 - why not have the competitor's score divided by the best team's score multiplied by 30? This is how similar events have been run since 2016-2017, and it has made these events much more logical. You could have the best performance for the written portion of a particular tournament and only gain one point. Considering there is such an easy fix, why is it not implemented?

[sciolyperson1]

My question is - why does the event replacing Mission and Robot Arm (which are traditionally full build events) have a study portion? I would understand if it was used in a tiebreaker situation (check nats trial event rules), but now the study portion is worth a considerable amount on the total score...

[Umaroth]

My question is - why does the event replacing Mission and Robot Arm (which are traditionally full build events) have a study portion? I would understand if it was used in a tiebreaker situation (check nats trial event rules), but now the study portion is worth a considerable amount on the total score...

It's probably to compensate for the fairly simple build.

[nicholasmaurer]

My question is - why does the event replacing Mission and Robot Arm (which are traditionally full build events) have a study portion? I would understand if it was used in a tiebreaker situation (check nats trial event rules), but now the study portion is worth a considerable amount on the total score...

I believe the intent is that, if students are required to invest time studying for this event, the test should contribute towards their actual score rather than simply being a tiebreaker.

[TapuCosmo]

In the Design Log, a printout of the program is required. Do dependencies also need to have their source code included?

[chessbucket]

Not a fan of these rules. I cant see the difference between the #1 and #15 team at nationals being more than 5 points.

[someone1580]

I'm pretty new to electronics so I have no idea how to even start with this event. How do I make the build and what should I study for the test?

[AngelMB]

I'm pretty new to electronics so I have no idea how to even start with this event. How do I make the build and what should I study for the test?

For building, I would definitely look into different temperature sensors including thermistors, thermocouples, and approved analog temperature sensors to find out what kind of device you want to use. Also look into a programming board, I am most familiar with Arduino, but Raspberry Pi and TI Innovator are also good boards to consider. You definitely need to learn basic code for whatever board you end up using.

As for studying, I would recommend looking at topics that Circuit Lab and Detector seem to have in common, such as the way LEDs work and Ohm's Law. Also search up how the different types of sensors work and how a resistance/voltage value can be turned into a temperature value using equations/programming. You can find some good information on some of these topics on the Circuit Lab Wiki page.

[Things2do]

Probably a stupid question, but... How competitive, at a average Regional, would a Circuit Lab person be if they did the test and didn't have any sort of build? I'd guess "Not Very," but...