FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
At MEC, we have always believed that nothing is more precious than kindling a love for STEM amongst middle and high school students. That's why we present to you the Micromouse competition: an all-encompassing, hands-on educational project that allows students to explore their imaginations and creative problem-solving skills. This is done through working in teams to develop innovative strategies that enable them to program a miniature robot that can move independently from one point of a maze to the other.
What does pricing look like?
Right now, the price is $50 per person. However, this price has the potential to go up to $70 per person. Register now to get the best deal possible!
How do I get a team?
By joining the
Discord and looking at the resources channel, you can see a
Google Sheet that has a list of interested applicants (and their contact information). You can use this to form a team. You can use this
Google Form to submit your information to this sheet.
I don't know how to build a Micromouse, where can I learn?
The
Discord has a seminars text channel. This channel will provide the details of any upcoming seminars, including the dates and professionals that will lead these seminars. You can also use
Youtube to learn Python for this project.
Can you give me more details for this event?
Micromouse is an engineering competition where small, robotic mice
(to see an image of a sample maze, mouse, and competition that is typical for a micromouse competition click this link) are programmed to autonomously complete a 10 foot by 10 foot maze. This micromouse competition, along with MEC, is sanctioned by
IEEE .
I'm in college, can I still participate?
Unfortunately, this competition is available exclusively to 6-12th grade students. However,
the TCNJ website has a list of plenty of robotics competitions that are open to college students. These competitions are in New Jersey.
How much time will I spend making a Micromouse if it's my first time?
If this is your first time doing a STEM-intensive activity with a team, it may take 3-5 hours per week of solid work with a team. This may take about 9 weeks depending on your productivity. These weeks will be spent troubleshooting, writing code, and tenaciously following the engineering design process.
How much does it cost to make a Micromouse from scratch? What do I need to make one?
It may cost
$100-$150 to make a Micromouse. Here are all the items necessary to make one:
- 1. Arduino Mega2560
- 2. Four Infrared sensors (Obstacle avoidance)
- 3. Motor driver Hbridge
- 4. Two Ultrasonic sensors
- 5. Jumbo wires
- 6. heat shrink
- 7. 2WD miniq robot car chassis
- 8. Two DC motors with encoders
All information from the list above was taken from
this website . If you need any other technical information, you can reach out to the staff on the
Discord Server , but the best way is to use the internet to get what you need.
Is there any other advice that you can give me?
Don't procrastinate! There is plenty of time to make a mouse for this competition. In addition, we recommend that you spend a lot of time and effort into making a robot that can complete this task quickly. To add on, doing trial runs would get you prepared. Finally, there will be a lot of setbacks in the making of this mouse, so we recommend you be patient and diligent as you and your team are in this together for the long run. Visit
this page for more information.