Automated Loading Zones?

[Deltafrog]

Anyone have an Idea how quickly they reload? would they be beneficial compared to human loading?

[Deltafrog]

Never mind, seems like they are way faster if you are able to reach them efficiently! :rolleyes:

[BandChick]

Okay, I might sound foolish for asking this, but HOW exactly do they work?

[UsmanB]

Okay, I might sound foolish for asking this, but HOW exactly do they work?


A "Field Attendant" places a tetra on the station everytime a robot takes one off? Look at 3.2.4 in arena pdf.

[Deltafrog]

Seems like tetras are placed on the Automated Loading zones by volunteers. As soon as they are taken form the Loading zone by a robot, they will refill the loading zone.

At least that's what I'm getting from this! :D

[UsmanB]

ya thats what im getting, for the manual loading zone the human player has to leave the pressure pad and run to the side to put a tetra on the robot. for the automated one the robot just goes to a station where it can get the tetra.

[Aaron Lussier]

I wonder if you had a robot that could hold a bunch of tetras could you just stay at the station, or would you have to back off and wait a few seconds for the volunteer to put a new one on.

[UsmanB]

I wonder if you had a robot that could hold a bunch of tetras could you just stay at the station, or would you have to back off and wait a few seconds for the volunteer to put a new one on.

<G14> Field attendants will place TETRAS on the Tetra Loading Stations on the side of the field opposite the HUMAN PLAYERS (ie. the “automated” LOADING ZONE). At any time, a ROBOT may enter the corresponding LOADING ZONE, retrieve the TETRA from the Loading Station, and enter it into play. The HUMAN PLAYER does not have to leave the pressure pad sensor during this operation. When the TETRA is removed from the Loading Station and the ROBOT has left the LOADING ZONE, the field attendant will place a new TETRA on the Loading Station. Robots may not intentionally interfere with field attendant’s efforts to place TETRAS on the Loading Stations. ;)

[Greg Marra]

I wonder if you had a robot that could hold a bunch of tetras could you just stay at the station, or would you have to back off and wait a few seconds for the volunteer to put a new one on.

You're only allowed to carry one tetra at a time.

You also have to back off before a new tetra is placed.

so, double no.

[edit]

I thought it said one tetra at a time. I can't find it now.

[[527]phil]

are you sure that you can only have one tetra at a time? :ahh:

[UsmanB]

phil']are you sure that you can only have one tetra at a time? :ahh:

yup only 1 at a time, but remember theres 3 teams on ur alliance. i guess it should work out fine.

[Greg Marra]

phil']are you sure that you can only have one tetra at a time? :ahh:

"<G17> A ROBOT that has received a TETRA may not collect another TETRA until it leaves and then re-enters
the LOADING ZONE. A violation will result in a 10-point penalty, and the TETRA will not be SCORED."

I believe I mis-read this rule earlier. I cannot find what I thought had said you can only have one tetra.

[Petey]

You're only allowed to carry one tetra at a time.

You also have to back off before a new tetra is placed.

so, double no.

I am unable to find, in the rules, a place where it explicates that your robot may only carry one tetra at once.

It merely states that you may only carry one per visit to the loading dock.

Please elaborate upon your first statement.

--Petey

[UsmanB]

i just looked at rules again and didnt see anything that said u can only carry one at a time. i guess if u wanted to carry multiple tetras you'd have to get one from the automated loading zone, move back, then come back and get another one as many times as u like or until ur robots carrying capacity is met. for the manual loading zone, ur player can only carry 1 at a time i believe and place it on the robot, ur player would have to run back get another one and put it back on ur robot, for multiple tetras.

[Lil' Lavery]

Yeah, unless FIRST changes it in an update, you can carry as many as you want, you can only load 1 per trip. So, if the attendant is fast enough, you can drive in, get it, drive out, drive in, get it....

[Levin571]

this reminds me of a certain game many years ago (before i even knew about first) where the rule said to put a ball through a hoop to score and people just stood at the hoops putting the ball through and back, through and back...

[rangersteve]

It seems that everyone is overlooking one major advantage to human player loading.

the human player can load the robot !
the atendant can load a platform !

any thoughts???

[Dested]

Well there are advantages to both. The attendant will definitely be faster because your not disabled in that time, but the human player places it directly onto you. You make the call :-P

[AmyPrib]

Don't forget this too - the field attendant will reload the auto zone when it is SAFE. So, yes, they should be relatively quick, but if you have an arm sticking out, or there is some other robot flailing around wildly in that area, causing potential harm to people outside the field, then the field attendant may not be as prompt. They're not going to risk getting hurt just to load your zone as you sit waiting.

[Lil' Lavery]

The big advantage of the auto loading stations is on your human players legs, especially if you want to repeatedly get tetras... :p
It all depends on your robot design really.

[Avarik]

Is it legal, though, to grab a tetra from an automated loading zone, back off and wait for the refil, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it? The rules state that any tetras outside of the playing field will no longer be counted, but your always touching it..?

[AmyPrib]

Is it legal, though, to grab a tetra from an automated loading zone, back off and wait for the refil, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it? The rules state that any tetras outside of the playing field will no longer be counted, but your always touching it..?

I don't fully understand what you mean by "wait for the refill, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it".... You can keep your first tetra, and pick up another one, so long as you left the load zone, and came back.
Tetras outside the field will be put back into loading stations for future use... so it's not like the small balls from last year where they were out of play after leaving the field..... if you dump a bunch tetras outside, they can come back in eventually..

[Wetzel]

Is it legal, though, to grab a tetra from an automated loading zone, back off and wait for the refil, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it? The rules state that any tetras outside of the playing field will no longer be counted, but your always touching it..?

The tetras on the ALZs are considered on the field per <S 02> Italics added for emphasis.
If a ROBOT goes out-of-bounds (outside the playing field) to the point where it has to apply force to any out-of-bounds surface to rejoin play, its control system will be disabled and the ROBOT will be disabled for the remainder of the match. If the infraction occurs during the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD, the ROBOT will be disabled for the remainder of the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD. For this purpose, the tetra loading structure is considered part of the playing field and may be contacted by the ROBOT.

Wetzel

[scottm87]

Anyone have an Idea how quickly they reload? would they be beneficial compared to human loading?

They are supposed to reload as "continuously" as possible, but they are not automatic, and there will be a large amount of human factor. How close are the tetras to load? How fast is the person loading them? What if two tetras get stuck together when the person loads?

This could be a problem, depending on how the game ends up being played.

[MASherry]

the rule states that at the beginning of the match only one team on the alliance can hold only one tetra at a time..i dont see anything about holding more than one during play..the question is on first q&a and at this point has yet to be answered