Brief For Obstacle Course.

Move robot using 12 instructions to get as far round obstacle course as possible. User will have 3 opportunities to program instruction sets of 12 instructions to complete the course. Map with grid to allow user to make instruction choices,(Grid in proportion to robot size). There will be a main route which would be more difficult with obstacles (buzzer/flashing light) which may incur time penalties if you collide with them. A second route which would be easier but would incur a time penalty. The winner would be the robot which had travelled the furthest within the allotted time period or reached the finish. Various obstacles would also have to be overcome within this allotted time period. Failure to navigate obstacle could also mean time penalties.

Story / Objective

Get the rover from the crash site to the launch site in three lunar cycles. Transmission window for each lunar cycle means you will only be able to send one set of instructions and then watch it's progress.

Scoring

Time or Distance? Time might rush the player. In the paradigm where you are controlling the Mars Rover you would take as long as necessary to come up with a well thought through plan before executing it. If the feedback from the cameras isn't realtime or we lose connection how do we accurately time the travel? What if they never reach the goal? Distance is easier to observe (wide angle camera positioned with an overview of the course/range) and measure (just a simple tape measure?). In either case, adding penalties for hitting obstacles (or requiring human intervention) increments the time/distance recorded.