Great question! This year's mission descriptions are nice in the way that they highlight the constraints and the required conditions, but it's sometimes hard to untangle what they mean when there are two possible scores for the mission.

Here's what I think. We won't know for sure until there is either a clarifying update, or the official scoring program comes out in October.

Search Engine

a) the color wheel has spun at least once (only by being pushed by the slider) and you don't have the desired loop condition. 15 points
b) the color wheel has spun at least once and only the desired loop is no longer touching the model. 60 points

Thinking Outside the Box

As described--these are clear to me.

Robotics Competition
a) The insert is installed in the chamber and is not being touched, and the loop is still touching the model. 25 points

b) The insert is installed in the chamber and is not being touched, and the loop is not touching the model as a result of movement of the slider. 55 points

** I expect to see discussion of what we mean by "installed"

Sports

a) The robot took an allowable shot, and the ball is not touching the mat in the net. 30 points

b) The robot took an allowable shot, and the ball is touching the mat in the net. 60 points

** I expect to see discussion of "Took a Shot"

Reverse Engineering
a) The basket is in Base. You didn't make a copy of the model. 30 points

b) The basket is in Base, and a good copy of the model is in Base. 45 points

Apprenticeship

a) The team built a meaningful model and attached the two people to it. The model is not touching the white circle around the scale. 20 points

b) The team built a meaningful model and attached the two people to it. The model is touching the white circle around the scale and is not in Base. 35 points

** I have it on very good authority that this is correct. (No, I didn't read it that way myself at first, either.)

Engagement

a) the yellow section is moved south, allowing the mechanism to drop into place. 20 points.

b) The bonus for turning the pinwheel is in addition to the 20 points for engaging the mechanism, but does not apply to that 20 points--it only applies to the scores from the other missions.

Project-based Learning

As described--this is clear to me.

Steve Scherr
VA-DC FLL Referee Advisor

On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 6:50 PM, Frank Levine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi All,
My team was brainstorming some ideas on the search engine mission today, and we ran across a scoring question:

They want to know if they still get their 15 points for pressing the slider if, after they press the slider, they take out all of the loops. As we understand it, we wouldn't get any points for having the correct loop removed, but we would get the points for pressing the slider. Is this the correct interpretation?

Thanks,
Frank Levine

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