Simplified overview of the 2013 BEST field and

gameplay

By Ian Prester

Coat hangers andWooden Posts

CPUSlots

MemorySlots

Wooden DowelsAnd Cups

1

2

3

CPUPieces

MemoryPieces

Gameplay is seperated into three different areas this year

• 1: The first area is called transistor fabrication. – This is the multicolored wooden dowels and the cups in

which they are to be placed• 2: The second area is called IC (integrated circuit)

fabrication.– This is the rack of multicolored coat hangers and the

wooden posts with PVC pipes on which they are to be hung

• 3: The third area is called the CPU (Central Processing Unit) fabrication area.– This is the table in the middle of the playing field that

has slots for the foam pieces on the floor to be placed in.

Objective

• In short the objective for the game is to build the best CPU (foam puzzle pieces in stage 3) possible.

• In order to build the CPU 1. Gates (dowels from stage 1)must be built2. Integrated circuits (coat hangers from stage 2) must be

built 3. IC’s (foam pieces) are used in stage 3 to make the best

CPU• The scoring software will keep track of how many gates

and IC’s and CPU’s have been made for each team during the entire competition

• No gates and no IC’s means no CPU

Stage 1

Gate Fabrication (Dowels)• This stage of the

competition requires teams to take the wooden dowels (transistors) on the bottom rack and place them into the bins above

• Different bins account for different points

• Lower bins are worth half the points upper bins are

• White ends out mean half the points of red ends out

• NAND bins (the ones facing the other way are the same as far as points and gates as the upper bins

Gatekeeper Transistor Values --Gate Fabrication Area--

24transistors

48transistors

48transistors

96transistors

Transistor values for AND, OR and NOT gates

Non-paintedend

Paintedend

Upper Assembly Line

Lower Assembly Line

Transistor values for NAND gates

Non-paintedend

Paintedend

48transistors

96transistors

Gatekeeper Transistor Values --Gate Fabrication Area--

# of Gates # of Transistors Point Value1 AND Gate = 24 transistors = 10 points1 OR Gate = 24 transistors = 10 points1 NOT Gate = 24 transistors = 10 points1 NAND Gate = 16 transistors = 8 points

Transistor Point Values--Gate Fabrication Area--

Example #11 AND Gate24 transistors10 points

Example #24 AND Gates96 transistors40 points

Gate Type Transistors Required Per Gate

AND 24

OR 24

NOT 24

NAND 16

•The purpose of creating transistors is to be able to use them for gates in the second round•Below is a table of how many transistors are required to create each type of gate that is required in stage 2•For example: if a team scores a dowel with red end out on the upper assembly line of the and section then they score 96 AND transistors. This translates into 4 AND gates (4 red hangers) that can be used in stage 2

Stage 2Integrated Circuit Fabrication (Coat Hangers and posts)

• This stage of the competition requires teams to take gates (coat hangers) and place them on PVC pipes jutting from the wooden posts

• The purpose of this stage is to build the cpu pieces or IC’s (foam pieces) needed for stage 3

• Teams are only able to use the gates (dowels from stage 1) that they have already assembled (from previous or current rounds)

• Lower PVC pipes are half as fast as upper ones

• First tower is the MUX (Multiplexor)• Second is the Adder• Third is the Decoder• Last is the D-Latch (Data Latch)

Building Integrated Circuits

• Gatekeeper: Clothes hangers represent gates. To build an integrated circuit, calculations must be made to determine the number and type of gates needed to create each circuit. Remember, inventory is required from Stage 1: Gate Fabrication Area.

1 Red hanger = 1 AND gate

1 White hanger = 1 OR gate

1 Blue hanger = 1 NOT gate

1 Black hanger = 1 NAND gate

IC Fabrication cont’d

• Hangers can be suspended by the PVC in any fashion as long as they are not supported by the field

• IC is only as efficient as lowest hanger.– For example, if a team was building a D-

Latch (needing only two black hangers) and had one black hanger on the upper post and one on the lower post then the team would only receive one D-Latch gate.

– If the team were to place both the black hangers on the upper post then they would receive two D-Latch gates since the upper post is running at double speed

AND

OR

NOT

NAND

Squares represent colored hangers and the number requiredto build each integrated circuit. Strategy will determine whether a team uses NAND gates or AND/OR/NOT gates.

or or or or

AdderMUX Decoder D-Latch

Register & Memory Units

MUX Manufactured 80 Points Each

Adders Manufactured 60 Points Each

Decoders Manufactured 40 Points Each

D-Latches Manufactured 60 Points Each

IC Fabrication Scoring

Okay, this is a little confusing, no?

• Here’s a little recap– Dowels in buckets = Transistors– Use table to know how many gates

are produced from transistors– Gates (hangers) are used in stage 2

to produce the foam pieces needed in stage 3 for the CPU and memory

• MUX = Multiplexor (first tower)• Adder = (Second tower)• Decoder = Instruction/Address

Decoder (Third tower)• D-Latch = Register/Memory Unit

(Fourth Tower)

• Okay, let’s keep going

Gate Type Transistors Required Per Gate

AND 24

OR 24

NOT 24

NAND 16

Stage 3

CPU Fabrication (Foam Puzzle Pieces)

• The purpose of this stage is to take the foam pieces (CPU and memory components) and place them on the board to make the best CPU and Memory possible

• The foam pieces are representations of the IC’s made in stage 2 with the coat hangers and posts

• D-Latch = Register/Memory Unit• Decoder = Instruction

Decoder/Address Decoder• Adder + MUX = ALU

The BEST CPU Fabrication Area

The BEST CPU Fabrication Area consists of two sub-areas:

•Core Processor Area (located on the left)

•Memory Module Area (located on the right)

Fabricating a Core Processor(The square board on the left)

A BEST Core Processor requires:

•(3) Registers (made by placing one D-Latch into each designated area)•(1) Instruction Decoder (made by placing one Decoder into the designated area) •(1) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) (made by placing one MUX and one Adder into the designated areas

Fabricating a Memory Module(The rectangular board on the right)

A BEST Memory Module is capable of fabricating twotypes of memory modules: •8-bit Memory Module (made by placing one D-Latch into any one of the Memory Unit slots)•32-bit Memory Module (made by placing four D-Latches and one Address Decoder the Memory Unit and Address Decoder slots)

CPU Fabrication Point Values--CPU Fabrication Area--

• Register installed 90 points• Instruction Decoder installed 60 points• MUX installed in ALU 120 points• Adder installed in ALU 90 points• 8-bit Memory Module completed 90 points• 32-bit Memory Module completed 420 points• 8-bit CPU completed 512 points• 32-bit CPU completed 1024 points

Inventory System

Gatekeeper utilizes an inventory system that is independent from scoring values:

•Components fabricated in each stage are placed in a team’s inventory•This inventory is NOT represented physically, but is instead maintained by the BEST Scoring Software•Hubs will provide a display for viewing team inventory, but it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT TEAMS TRACK THEIR OWN INVENTORY

Scoring Overview

The 5S BonusThe 5S Bonus is awarded at the completion of each match for maintaining a clean and safe work environment:

•5S Bonus is calculated at the end of each match but is not finalized until the end of the round•5S Bonus will be awarded at the end of a match, if no game pieces have been removed from play, and any game pieces in contact with the floor are also in contact with the robot•The maximum 5S per round is 10% of the scored amount

1. Sort2. Set in order3. Shine4. Standardize5. Sustain

Good Luck!Please remember to read the rules FIRST.

Any remaining questions can be addressed on the Official BEST Q&A!