Mission Possible Guidance

[Hunter Science Olympiad Division B]

Hello Coaches! 

Newbie here--We are trying to organize a Mission Possible build, but unfortunately the planning portion is very hard to accomplish. How do you all spatially plan everything? We've tried drawing things out, which ends up to be inefficient since we are operating in a 3d world, and its better to have it go beyond the 2d plane of just one board. I've heard of CAD, but is there anything simpler? How do you all go about spatially planning it before execution? 

Thanks, 

Hunter Div B 

Science Olympiad

[Kelly Bell]

That IS a big challenge!   This late in the game, a good approach might be to suggest to the students to create some sort of pegboard 3-sided cube or even an upside down "T" made of pegboard.  Suggest twist ties or pegboard hooks to put toy pieces (from their own closets, from the thrift store), PVC scraps, cardboard cutouts on to accomplish tasks.   Work with students to prioritize points.   One hint that might help is for them to make some "place holders" such as a ramp or tube that a marble can roll down.  Put these place holders between completed tasks.   As the students add tasks to the device, they can put them where the place holders are.  This year's challenges are doable but hard and a pair of students that figures out the start task, the end task and perhaps one in the middle starting this late in the season will be quite busy indeed.     

[Hunter Science Olympiad Division B]

I see! We have states in ~1mo, is that too close? Our original Mission Possible didn't work well (as in it didn't work at all), so we're considering a redesign from the original scraps of cardboard duct taped together.