LEGO Bowling

The alley is 4' long x 16" wide. The robot area is 12" long at one end of the alley. 10 LEGO pins are arranged in a triangle about 8" from the far end of the alley. There are walls surrounding the alley made of 1" x 4" boards (slightly decreasing the alley area). The ball is a standard 2" LEGO Duplo ball as found in the MindStorms robot set. The 10 pins are constructed from LEGO parts and arranged as shown the the diagrams below. The surface is smooth hardboard.

The robot can be loaded with the ball and aimed manually, but once activated, the robot must autonomously send the ball toward the pins.

The robot and ball must start completely within the 12" x 16" starting area. The robot must not leave the starting area.

Scoring is the same as regular ten-pin bowling, except only 5 frames will be played. In each frame, the robot has two chances to knock down as many pins as possible with the ball. One point is awarded for each pin knocked down. If all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball, a strike is awarded and the next two balls will count double. Or if all 10 pins are knocked down with two balls, a spare is awarded and the next one ball will count double. If all 10 pins are knocked down in the final frame, three balls are allowed in that frame.

The pins are constructed from a 6 long technic axle, a LEGO pulley, and two 2x2 round bricks as shown below. They are arranged with a front-back spacing of 4 LEGO units and a sideways spacing of 6 LEGO units as shown below (but they will NOT be placed on a LEGO base plate).

Sensor and parts limitations: Only one MindStorms brain, 4 motors, and 4 sensors may be used per entry. Only unmodified LEGO and HiTechnic brand parts, motors and sensors available directly from LEGO or LEGO Education are allowed. Third party manufactured parts are not allowed.

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