Trebuchet Competition Rules
The Great Trebuchet Challenge
Team Formation:
• Each club my have one team in the competition.
• Each team must have at least three members, and all members must be members of the club.
• No one outside of this team may help in any way on the project, unless their help is counted at $10/hour toward the total cost of the trebuchet, or at the actual rate charged, whichever is greater.
Construction:
• The trebuchet must be constructed primarily of wood. Other materials are allowed, but should be limited to supporting roles such as use as fasteners. The purpose of this is to prevent the need to teams to have welding, metal cutting, or other expensive and hard to find tools to be competitive, so use your judgment based upon that to decide if you are using too much metal or not.
• The total cost of the trebuchet must not exceed $100. This includes all paid labor and materials. Exceptions to this rule are the counterweight and any decorations/paint which do not affect the function of the trebuchet.
• The projectile must be launched from one end of the trebuchet arm, powered only by the gravitational potential energy of the counterweight. The launching end my launch the projectile directly, or through the use of a sling. No electrical, explosive, or other energy sources may be used. In other words, you should build a trebuchet, not a cannon that you call a trebuchet.
• The trebuchet must be able to be brought to the competition site, set up, loaded, cocked, and triggered by the team. Human power (not to exceed three members of the team) must be sufficient to load and cock the trebuchet.
• Due to safety concerns, the trebuchet must be triggered with all team members at least 2 meters away from the trebuchet, and behind the line perpendicular to the direction of fire.
Safety:
• Once the trebuchet is loaded and cocked, no persons are allowed forward of the line perpendicular to the direction of fire, nor may any person come closer than two meters to the trebuchet.
• No trebuchet will be allowed to fire unless the judge deems it to be of sound and safe design. The judge, at his discretion, may change this assessment at any time during the competition.
• If the judge deems the actions of any member of any team to be acting in an unsafe manner, that person will be removed from the competition.
• The ruling of the judge in all matters concerning safety is final and inviolate.
Competition:
• The competition shall be held on a date to be announced later, in February of 2009.
• The competition shall have three parts designed to test range, accuracy, and destructive power.
• For each part, points shall be awarded by giving n points to first place, n-1 points to second place, n-2 points to third place, etc, where n is the number of teams competing.
• The team with the most points at the end of the competition shall be declared the winner.
• Should a tie occur, a second set of points shall be awarded for the purposes of tiebreaking. This set of points shall be awarded in the same way as before, but with all teams with a total score lower than the tied teams’ score not counting.
• Definitions:
o A shot is defined to have been made when the projectile first travels through the air laterally away from the trebuchet, in any direction, a distance greater than the length of the throwing arm of that trebuchet. A projectile that falls from the loaded position and rolls away from the trebuchet shall not be considered a successful shot.
o The firing line is defined as the area within 5 meters of any trebuchet.
o The projectiles to be fired are tennis balls which have been filled with metal. They weigh roughly 0.5 kg.
Part One – Distance:
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 5 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 5 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• After each team has been given three attempts, the team with the projectile that traveled the farthest (in the forward direction, not radially) shall be given first place for this segment. The team with the projectile that travels the second farthest will be given second place for this segment, etc.
Part Two – Accuracy:
• A target will be marked forward of the trebuchets. Based on the results of the first part of the competition, the judge shall decide on the placement of the target. The target will be a distance on the order of half the distance that the projectiles traveled during the first part of the competition.
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 5 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 5 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• After each team has been given three attempts, the team with the projectile that first hit the ground closest to the target shall be given first place for this segment. The team with the projectile that first hit the ground the second closest will be given second place for this segment, etc.
Part One – Power:
• A small wall of bricks shall be set up for each team, approximately 8-10 meters from the firing line. The wall will be approximately a 30cm, and at least 50cm wide.
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 2 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 2 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• The first team to knock down their wall with projectiles (defined as having the wall in such a state that all bricks which were on the first (base) row of the wall are completely uncovered by other bricks) shall be given first place for this segment. The second team to knock down their wall shall be given second place for this segment, etc.
These rules:
• These rules are subject to change at any time with agreement of all teams in the competition, or at the discretion of the judge.
• Any teams found to be in violation of these rules will be disqualified from the competition, and they will be mocked by all other teams.
Team Formation:
• Each club my have one team in the competition.
• Each team must have at least three members, and all members must be members of the club.
• No one outside of this team may help in any way on the project, unless their help is counted at $10/hour toward the total cost of the trebuchet, or at the actual rate charged, whichever is greater.
Construction:
• The trebuchet must be constructed primarily of wood. Other materials are allowed, but should be limited to supporting roles such as use as fasteners. The purpose of this is to prevent the need to teams to have welding, metal cutting, or other expensive and hard to find tools to be competitive, so use your judgment based upon that to decide if you are using too much metal or not.
• The total cost of the trebuchet must not exceed $100. This includes all paid labor and materials. Exceptions to this rule are the counterweight and any decorations/paint which do not affect the function of the trebuchet.
• The projectile must be launched from one end of the trebuchet arm, powered only by the gravitational potential energy of the counterweight. The launching end my launch the projectile directly, or through the use of a sling. No electrical, explosive, or other energy sources may be used. In other words, you should build a trebuchet, not a cannon that you call a trebuchet.
• The trebuchet must be able to be brought to the competition site, set up, loaded, cocked, and triggered by the team. Human power (not to exceed three members of the team) must be sufficient to load and cock the trebuchet.
• Due to safety concerns, the trebuchet must be triggered with all team members at least 2 meters away from the trebuchet, and behind the line perpendicular to the direction of fire.
Safety:
• Once the trebuchet is loaded and cocked, no persons are allowed forward of the line perpendicular to the direction of fire, nor may any person come closer than two meters to the trebuchet.
• No trebuchet will be allowed to fire unless the judge deems it to be of sound and safe design. The judge, at his discretion, may change this assessment at any time during the competition.
• If the judge deems the actions of any member of any team to be acting in an unsafe manner, that person will be removed from the competition.
• The ruling of the judge in all matters concerning safety is final and inviolate.
Competition:
• The competition shall be held on a date to be announced later, in February of 2009.
• The competition shall have three parts designed to test range, accuracy, and destructive power.
• For each part, points shall be awarded by giving n points to first place, n-1 points to second place, n-2 points to third place, etc, where n is the number of teams competing.
• The team with the most points at the end of the competition shall be declared the winner.
• Should a tie occur, a second set of points shall be awarded for the purposes of tiebreaking. This set of points shall be awarded in the same way as before, but with all teams with a total score lower than the tied teams’ score not counting.
• Definitions:
o A shot is defined to have been made when the projectile first travels through the air laterally away from the trebuchet, in any direction, a distance greater than the length of the throwing arm of that trebuchet. A projectile that falls from the loaded position and rolls away from the trebuchet shall not be considered a successful shot.
o The firing line is defined as the area within 5 meters of any trebuchet.
o The projectiles to be fired are tennis balls which have been filled with metal. They weigh roughly 0.5 kg.
Part One – Distance:
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 5 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 5 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• After each team has been given three attempts, the team with the projectile that traveled the farthest (in the forward direction, not radially) shall be given first place for this segment. The team with the projectile that travels the second farthest will be given second place for this segment, etc.
Part Two – Accuracy:
• A target will be marked forward of the trebuchets. Based on the results of the first part of the competition, the judge shall decide on the placement of the target. The target will be a distance on the order of half the distance that the projectiles traveled during the first part of the competition.
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 5 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 5 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• After each team has been given three attempts, the team with the projectile that first hit the ground closest to the target shall be given first place for this segment. The team with the projectile that first hit the ground the second closest will be given second place for this segment, etc.
Part One – Power:
• A small wall of bricks shall be set up for each team, approximately 8-10 meters from the firing line. The wall will be approximately a 30cm, and at least 50cm wide.
• A 30 minute setup period shall be given to the teams during which they may set up their trebuchet and make adjustments. The trebuchets are not to be loaded or cocked during this time.
• Each team shall, in turn, be given a period of 2 minutes to attempt to fire a single shot. During this period, no other teams may be on the firing line. The active team may do anything to their trebuchet during this time. If the 2 minutes ends before a shot is made, the team forfeits that attempt, unless the trebuchet is already cocked, in which case the team is given an additional 30 seconds to trigger the shot before moving to the next team.
• The first team to knock down their wall with projectiles (defined as having the wall in such a state that all bricks which were on the first (base) row of the wall are completely uncovered by other bricks) shall be given first place for this segment. The second team to knock down their wall shall be given second place for this segment, etc.
These rules:
• These rules are subject to change at any time with agreement of all teams in the competition, or at the discretion of the judge.
• Any teams found to be in violation of these rules will be disqualified from the competition, and they will be mocked by all other teams.
Labels: Trebuchet
posted by Mike Fenwick at
2:37 AM
1 Comments:
I have a MIG welder and chop saw that I am comfortable sharing if we want to up the caliber of the competition a bit.
Basically, I don't know s**t about wood work (mild steel is a vastly superior engineering material) and I want to leverage that for everyone to make some badass machines.
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