[FTC]: Competition Field - Newbie Question

[cnbnichols]

Hi All,

This is our first year with FTC, 3 years of FLL...working on number 4...

Our question has to do with the Competition Field. Can we/should we buy a kit, make it ourselves? The Hot Shot Field Construction Guide makes reference to the "original IFI manufactured fields" and "the newer fields", but I can't for the life of me find any info on either.

HELP!!

Thanks!!!
Chris
Westford Youth Robotics 4-H club

[Monty Python]

The "newer" fields are apparently not as good and are a bit flimsier than the IFI fields. We were told that FIRST was telling people to purchase the IFI fields (this comes second hand, so it may not be accurate). We've been looking for a FIRST field for over a year now and have been unable to buy one. My team is going with the IFI field, I would suggest for your team to do the same.

[Rick TYler]

Our question has to do with the Competition Field. Can we/should we buy a kit, make it ourselves? The Hot Shot Field Construction Guide makes reference to the "original IFI manufactured fields" and "the newer fields", but I can't for the life of me find any info on either.

The VEX Robotics Competition (part of IFI) uses a 12x12 field the same size as the one used in FTC. The FIRST version of the field hasn't been available for several months, and most people who have used both (in my experience) prefer the VEX field anyway. You can order one here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex-competitions.shtml. Scroll down and you'll find it, along with free plans for a build-it-yourself practice field.

[ttldomination]

Buying a field is a one time investment, or at least the borders/tiles, but I mean, I've been in FTC, and my team has never found a need for an actual field. It might be to your financial benefit to build the essential elements such as one ball holder, the center scoring area, and the bins.

But if you can afford, by all means, purchase it. :P

[Chris is me]

I would recommend at least getting foam tiles and making as close to exact replicas of the scoring structures as possible. You can fake field sides with PVC just fine, but definitely definitely get foam and EXACT scoring structures. Many screwed up designs have resulted from not having said stuff to work with.