Re: 2014 Game
 

I have a sneaky suspicion that these would not be welcome on gymnasium floors.

Re: 2014 Game
 

How about this for a game
The field is cut in half by a large barrier say 5 to 6 feet high. Each alliance puts one robot on one side and two on the other. There are one or two tracks over the field with track balls on them. The tracks are arranged in such a way that the balls cant come off. On the field there are two types of balls, a smaller one (possibly a tennis ball) and a larger more dense ball. To score you have to get more balls onto the opposing teams side of the barrier. The small balls are worth less then the larger balls but are more abundant. There could possibly be large goals in the back corners to aim for, and can be scored in by the one robot you have on there side. Once in these goals they balls could not be removed. Teams also get points based on where the large overhead trackball is at the end of the match. The only way you are allowed to move the trackball along its track is by shooting it with other balls. The farther on the opponents side you get it the more points your alliance gets. In the beginning at least most balls shot at the track ball will bounce back onto your side making you have to choose between moving it or getting the balls on the other side.

Thoughts?

Re: 2014 Game
 

Wouldn't that just be battle bots basically with a ball in the arena?::ouch:: :yikes:

Re: 2014 Game
 

Water polo.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Swerves with propellers instead of wheels.

Re: 2014 Game
 

And inflatable tubes instead of bumpers

Re: 2014 Game
 

Don't give the game coordinators any ideas..

Re: 2014 Game
 

I would love to have a game where you score points by moving game pieces to your opponents' side of the field.
It would be cool to have the sides of the field separated by stairs. A little like the bumps from 2010, but taller and stairs. The end game could be like king of the hill.

Re: 2014 Game
 

2002 was such a game. As was 1999 (though I must admit, the 1999 one was a multiplier for your base score). Both involved moving large game pieces--goals in 2002, a "puck" that robots could climb on in 1999--to your opponents' side of the field or a specific zone therein to score points.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I like the high speed games, like last year. The game pieces exit the robot at bone-shattering speeds. That's my version of fun :D :D :D :D :D

Re: 2014 Game
 

Okay, baseball it is!

WAIT, we have to follow the trend: Water baseball!

Theres a game for you

Re: 2014 Game
 

One word: Pong

Re: 2014 Game
 

I am going to guess it is going to be something in relation to the Olympics. Maybe Hockey?

Re: 2014 Game
 

Luge racing.

Re: 2014 Game
 

That would be interesting but very fun.

Re: 2014 Game
 

What if the entire field was a slope. Your alliance is all tethered together with a rope. You can only use some slippery tires (maybe the ones used in Lunacy [but on carpet, not Regolith]) you must prevent the other alliance from reaching the top, but not so much that you fail to reach the top yourself. Maybe you have a variety of differently weighted game pieces you have to haul up the "mountain", winner is the team who hauled the most weight. End game is if all your robots are at the top.

Re: 2014 Game
 

SO MANY BURNED MOTORS

Re: 2014 Game
 

What if everything was made of Regolith?

Like the floor, the walls, the objective, and the only material permitted for robots was just regolith.

I'm sure that'd cause some friction with a lot of teams. Or...would it? :rolleyes:

Re: 2014 Game
 

Lunacy puns are against R106.5 of the rules.
RED CARD THE WHOLE ALLIANCE.

Re: 2014 Game
 

What if they just said: "No aluminum"?

Re: 2014 Game
 

Everyone would quit.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Carbon fiber!
Wait... what else is made out of carbon?
Fishing rods...

Water Game!:)

Re: 2014 Game
 

Since we all like patterns here, has anyone else noticed that the color of the carpet has a very repetitive pattern over the last few years?

2010: Green (Non-gray)
2011: Gray
2012: Brown (non-gray)
2013: Gray
2014: Blue, because water game (non-gray)

Re: 2014 Game
 

one rule: No moving

Re: 2014 Game
 

Well, I guess that this means that BrickBot will be useful this year! :D

Re: 2014 Game
 

I guarantee you some teams would still find ways to knock other robots over.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Robots operate attached to suspended monorails and can only travel along the rail. Maybe some clever game design putting some robots on the same rail.

Re: 2014 Game
 

The game is hockey and the floor is Regolith.

Re: 2014 Game
 

So you basically mean ice hockey? Sounds like a water game to me.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Well, The Blue Alliance hints at a water game. There's even this proof-of-concept posted on YouTube:

Re: 2014 Game
 

Please note:

The robots dimensions have changed significantly

Re: 2014 Game
 

Oh boy. ::rtm::

Re: 2014 Game
 

This had to do with the fact that 2010 was a soccer game and 2012 was basketball. They tried to make the carpet color look like a field & a court respectively.

Although, if the carpet's blue and the pieces are water-sport themed, can we finally be done with "OMG WATER GAME!!!" ?

Re: 2014 Game
 

We keep thinking something very light that requires accuracy and delicate dexterity, combined with something very heavy that requires force and power.

Some speculate that more accurate driving control may be required.

Feathers? Ping pong balls? Badminton birdies?

Hockey pucks have also been ruminated.

Javelins, ninja stars, crossbow bolts? (From the more aggresively inclined pundits)

...and footballs, of course! .... under water ....:eek:

Re: 2014 Game
 

What I don't understand is why everyone wants there to be a water game. If you really to build underwater robots join a MATE team not a FRC team

Re: 2014 Game
 

We don't necessarily "want" a water game. we are all just endlessly and pointlessly continuing a running gag that has plagued Chief Delphi for years.

But hey, that's what tradition is anyways, right?

Re: 2014 Game
 

it has to be a game were you can not play defense and if you can its very hard to do.(they have been making it each year)
its also about time were they give us an irregular shape or some strange and unusual as part of the field field. more likely the irregular shaped object that we have to pick up or push.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Why don't you want there to be defense? I thought that the defense this year made the game more exciting and more like a sporting event. In addition, it was a somewhat reasonable fallback for the teams that could not make a robot as awesome as 3467's:)

Re: 2014 Game
 

Seconded. The defense this year also made the game funny. Watching all the leaf blower bots (funny because it worked a lot better than we all thought it would) and the wacky wavy inflatable tube men (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39187?) added a humorous flair to the game that an all-offense game would not have.

Re: 2014 Game
 

In all honesty, I predict that there will be a field obsticle (like that bump in 12 and 10)

There will probably not be anything thrown like balls or disks

Thats all I can predict

By the way, does anyone know when the hint comes out?

Re: 2014 Game
 

No one knows until the hint is released. They may have released it already, but not labelled it as a hint. The hint may have been planted anonymously in this very thread by an undercover FIRST employee. In fact, this very thread might be the game hint, with the GDG patrolling it, looking for which game to use out of several choices in order to still surprise us all.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Plot twist: I'm actually Dean Kamen, and I've seen so many water game suggestions that we're now considering it.
:deadhorse:

Re: 2014 Game
 

I had no idea M. Night Shyamalan was going to be the FIRST director this year.

Re: 2014 Game
 

The only thing that I think I can predict with some amount of accuracy this year is that it will not be a projectile based game, while they are very popular with the public I think the GDC would like to add in a variation of design and challenge to the game. Some of the components of the robots this year were similar to last year's game, such as the shooters as well as the code for vision targeting.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Same. Ultimate Ascent was one of the best games I've played but right after kickoff I felt like the game style and point system was almost identical to 2012 and Rebound Rumble.

Take a break from shooting, let's lift some stuff!

Re: 2014 Game
 

Yeah, I don't see a projectile game because three in a row would be slightly excessive.

I can see a football style game where you carry a ball from one side to the other side with some sort of endgame similar to a field goal.

If we're going along with the game-based-on-major-events theme, then the Winter Olympics could suggest Hockey (either on Regolith or not) or something.

What I really want though is an open field without barriers so the robots are still fast and maneuverable; I think those are slightly more exciting for audiences.

Re: 2014 Game
 

i have to agree with you that the defense this year made the game more exciting:). What i had meant to say was that FIRST might try to make it difficult for teams to play defense on each other. Instead they might try to bring back an aspect of Rebound Rumble with the cooperation bridge and the opposing teams working together.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I want a sailing game. Because that would be awesome, and as a sailor I'd immediately become the most important member on the team :D

Re: 2014 Game
 

2014 is the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Rubik's Cube.

Maybe we'll have a giant Rubik's Cube in the center of each alliance zone?
that we have to solve.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Thanks for the kind words! :)

I think Pat was making a reference to the evolution of the rules. Defense is a big strategy every year. Many teams design strictly defensive robots and others defensive features like blockers most teams added them during the season but some had elegant systems from the beginning. On 3467 our number priority every year is that if our robot can't play offense it has to be able to play defense. All three years we have made two speed 6wd robots that are short to the ground and can play some solid defense. Its a design decision that always proves its worth. This year our robot wasn't what is is today and mainly played defense before evolving into a strong offensive robot at our second regional.

Back on topic, FRC has been evolving with rules limiting strong defensive play that was huge back in the earlier days of FRC. I remember games where there were defensive strategies that were extremely effective at shutting down opponents, but it doesn't lead to exciting matches.

Every game as an effective defensive strategy, you just have to find it.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Wild speculation...

Maybe the first clue is already out there. Looking closely at the picture included in Frank's blog of September 27, on the left of the three monitors and partially obstructed by Frank's arm may be a teaser for this year's field set-up. Eight (or more) 3-sided cubicles lining the side wall of the field.

Even wilder speculation...

Assume the opposite wall of the field has eight (or more) similar cubicles. Each of the eight robots (four robots per alliance in qualification rounds) starts the match in a cubicle. To earn points during the autonomous period robots must vacate their starting cubicle and move across the field to enter a cubicle on the opposite side. Hence the reference in the blog to the "Morris dance". During tele-op, robots then dart from one side of the field to the other trying to "cap" as many cubicles as possible.

End game is a tug of war between mini-bots.

Re: 2014 Game
 

24 pages and it is not even december yet.

Re: 2014 Game
 

only 4 if your posts per page is set to 100 :D

Re: 2014 Game
 

hmmmm.... I don't think so...

Re: 2014 Game
 

I had a dream last night about the 2014 game (I know, it's weird). I think that this has less than a 0.000001% chance of being a game any year and will probably be laughed at, but I'll describe it anyway.

The game's theme is football. The kickoff video started with clips from Anchorman (don't know why but it did) and only hints once or twice at football, but some how I figured it out. The field was about 5 times bigger than the normal field and there was somewhere around 11 robots to two alliances (still blue and red). The game is a mix of Logomotion, Ultimate Ascent, and football. You shoot the frisbees like Ultimate Ascent, you have to hang the Logomotion tubes up on the pegs, but there are pegs around the entire field and some are behind a layer of netting. There is some sort of way for robots to tackle each other (don't know what it was, and I remember thinking in the dream "How does that work?"). Finally, some game piece (not sure what) gets feed onto the field via slots on angled corners of the field similar to Ultimate Ascent, but there is only one slot in the middle of wall instead of three. Past the feeding slot, it goes onto a platform where it waits (not sure what for) and then lowers down to the field. This is so that alliances can take the other alliance's game pieces (not sure how they do it but they can).

Like I said, this has less than a 0.000001% chance of being a game any year and will probably more laughed at, but I figured I might as well put it down somewhere and this seems like as good of a place as any.

Re: 2014 Game
 

still not sure where you come up with all these random facts kevin.. but sounds fun

Re: 2014 Game
 

History of Invention:
2014 is also:

10 Years- Translucent Concrete, Intel Express Chipsets, Ka-on Flower Sound Plants
20 years- HIV inhibitor
30 years- Apple, CD-ROM
40 years- Post-It Notes
50 years- Computer Mouse, BASIC, Acrylic Paint,
60 years- Fortran, Geodesic Dome, Pills, Nonstick Teflon Pans, Solar Cell, McDonald's(R)
70 years- Kidney Dialysis Machine, Synthetic Cortisone
80 years- Monopoly(R), Road Reflectors, Tape Recorder
90 years- Loudspeaker, Spiral Notebooks
100 years- Gas Mask
110 years- Tea Bag, Tractor
130 years - Fountain Pen, Mechanical Cash Register, Steam Turbine

EDIT
160 years- Principles of Fiber Optics
180 years- Corn Planter, Ether Ice Machine
190 years- Toy Balloon
200 years- Steam Locomotive, Spectroscope, First Photograph
210 years- Gas Lighting
220 years- Cotton Gin, Ball Bearings
230 years- Threshing Machine, Safety Lock
250 years- Spinning Jenny
290 years- Mercury Thermometer
390 years- Slide Rule
520 years- Whiskey

Re: 2014 Game
 

The robots become progressively more difficult to control over the course of the match.
:p

Re: 2014 Game
 

Clearly, the game will be played on a smart translucent concrete field, announced by flowers, all the robots will have to find a vaccine for HIV (on an ancient computer, of course, powered by Post-Its). They will also be painting, cooking McDonald's in nonstick pans, undergoing dialysis, while also playing Monopoly on a retroreflective course. There will also be some very loud notebooks, and noxious teabags will require gas masks.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I can't wait for the Fortran themed slide rule game, using mercury thermometers, corn planters, non-stick cookware, and a cotton gin end game.

On a more serious note, balloons would make a really cool game piece. Also, trains.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Mercury? Seems like that might be fun and dangerous

Re: 2014 Game
 

Jaegers.

'Nuff said.

Re: 2014 Game
 

OH MY GOD.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I like trains.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I could only wish trains were the theme this year, a steampunk first robotics competition. Pleas eoh pleas elet trains be the theme this year,. Trains helped develop the time zones. Which has helped civilization with alot of things. Also today in history is the day that trains made the time zones (glad I found this thread TODAY)

I mean look at this Big Boy Steam train(located below inthe attachments.

It would really make some good looking robots. Plus trains are one of the best inventions ever. They transport 40%of America's freight. Also they are way more fuel efficient than a airplane. Also it would make a great theme.

Train Conductors- Referees

Also trains created this modern world. And I bet you the parts on our robots somehow and in some way were transported by a train.

Just saying FIRST should really honor trains this year or at least by the year 2016 (my last year as a student :( )

Anyways anybody agree with me and magnets?

Re: 2014 Game
 

I could only wish trains were the theme this year, a steampunk first robotics competition. Pleas eoh pleas elet trains be the theme this year,. Trains helped develop the time zones. Which has helped civilization with alot of things. Also today in history is the day that trains made the time zones (glad I found this thread TODAY)

I mean look at this Big Boy Steam train(located below inthe attachments.

It would really make some good looking robots. Plus trains are one of the best inventions ever. They transport 40%of America's freight. Also they are way more fuel efficient than a airplane. Also it would make a great theme.

Train Conductors- Referees

Also trains created this modern world. And I bet you the parts on our robots somehow and in some way were transported by a train.

Just saying FIRST should really honor trains this year or at least by the year 2016 (my last year as a student :( )

Anyways anybody agree with me and magnets?

Posted some train pic for you guys to start getting ideas about the how to design your robot after a train.

Also one of the trains is the big boy train the other 2 are pictures of some of the last steam engines located in China.

Re: 2014 Game
 

no

Re: 2014 Game
 

Why not?

Re: 2014 Game
 

I attended a workshop on drivetrains a few weeks ago but I didn't learn anything about driving trains :(

Re: 2014 Game
 

Is "driving" the correct term for operating trains?

Re: 2014 Game
 

I don't know, but I'm sure the job takes a lot of training.

Re: 2014 Game
 

While I love most (if not all) the ideas stated above, I know what the game will be: CTF! The field will be of similar shape and size to those from Rebound Rumble and Ultimate Ascent, with two team stations on either side. The floor will be some texturally interesting material, or possible combination of materials. There will be an assortment of weights in the middle of the field, with varying weights. The goal will be to, with some automatous mode, get the most weights on your side of the field. The interesting part is, "Do we push it in front of us, hoping another team doesn't take it, or do we pick it up, and carry it?" A balancing end-game finishes the round. What do you guys thin?

Re: 2014 Game
 

I'm pretty sure FIRST slipped up and didn't make 2011 a train game :D

Re: 2014 Game
 

An intiresting thought, Connerd. I doubt we would see a balancing endgame so soon after Rebound Rumble, but I do think a Capture The Flag style game would be intiresting.

46 Days!

Also, the award for best post in this thread goes to:
(I love puns, by the way)

Re: 2014 Game
 

I just got scared. wow that is soon

Re: 2014 Game
 

Dibs on Gypsy Danger!

Re: 2014 Game
 

And for the endgame the robot has to go through a wormhole and self-destruct.:D

Re: 2014 Game
 

Also, it's Gipsy Danger.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Half-Life 3 will be the game theme. This I know for sure.

Re: 2014 Game
 

I am positing this at 6:36 EST.
6+3+6=15.
15/5=3
EST has 3 letters
Half Life 3 has 3 words.

Half Life 3 Confirmed.

Re: 2014 Game
 

You know it is true because:

student17's post was the 380th on this thread.
Half life 2 came out on November 16th, 2004
Today's date is 11/19/13

380 is also 11000010 in binary. Converted to ASCII you get char(196)
6 looks like a second nine, so ignore the second nine. the first 9, minus 1 is 8.
the eighth letter of the alphabet is 'H'
Today is the 19th, on a 'QWERTY' keyboard, the 19th letter is 'L'
Back to that second nine from above. take today's date and subtract 9 years, you get 11/19/04. That date is what? exactly '3' days after Half Life 2 came out.

What do we get? HL3.


boom.

Re: 2014 Game
 

My team and I came up with a really good idea for a water game this year called "Shockwave". It mostly involves having your robot be thrown into a pool of water and gradulally being more and more destroyed. You get more points for each piece of your robot that is no longer useable after the match, so you have to put a lot on there. If you can, your alliance also will get points for the destruction of other robots, and at the end of the match the drive team can jump into the pool, and each drive team member sent to the hospital gets you an extra 3 points.

Good luck and we'll see you at the competition.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Oh no, if this is true then I guess the FRC game won't ever come out!:p

Re: 2014 Game
 

A lot of the recent games have been sports, I think FIRST is going to do something different. But as the driver and the electrician, I do NOT want a water game...

Re: 2014 Game
 

As I driver, I have done this before at outreach events. I was working with a group of boyscouts, and I had just gotten the camera to work for the first time since the season. They immediately told me to go down this hallway that I could not see, and it would come to a door not 10 feet from our computer setup. It was a lot of fun, but since our camera wasn't centered, it was kind of hard.

Re: 2014 Game
 

We bridged our robot through our school wide wifi, and put the camera on the projector in our lab. We drove around the school, and even got someone (without mic/speakers) to operate the elevator for us! all from the safety of our lab.

*EDIT*

Now that I think about it, we have DISTRICT wide wifi. We could control the robot from any school to any other school with zero more effort. The internet feeds to our admin building and then feeds to the schools. I can drive by any school in town and my phone will automatically sync and log into my account, and you can file transfer between schools. You can ping a different school's computers using a local ip

Re: 2014 Game
 

I see many recent posts have gone off topic.... but here is a an actual game idea that some friends and I thought of.

What if the endgame was for the robot to go to the corners of the field, and the teams would get points for every corner they are touching?

Assuming FIRST outlaws tethers, the way to do this would be that the robots separate into smaller robots. A teams big robot could consist of 4 robots put together.

Of course this means FIRST might have to change the bumper rules :eek:, and put in a rule making it so each sub robot has to start in a center zone and be self powered (or something in that manner). I think it would both be very cool and and interested curve-ball challenge for elite level teams. Any thoughts?

Also, 2014 ARM GAME! :p

Re: 2014 Game
 

That sounds very cool, and if you could share the steps you took I would greatly appreciate it!

Re: 2014 Game
 

Seems like the FRC Challenges mimic the previous years' FTC Challenges...just an observation.

Re: 2014 Game
 

So we can basically look forward to another Tube game.

Which kinda bums me out, I've always loved the projectile games.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Not quite. According to the trends in game design, the tube game is every four years and will have to wait until next year.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Could be something where both shooting and using a manipulator are viable options.

Re: 2014 Game
 

A few things I think we're due for:

1) Balls. The every other year pattern holds?
2) Bulk loading. Haven't seen since Lunacy. Rebound Rumble game
pieces maxed out at 3.
3) Manipulator arms. Not popular since Logomotion. Time to break out some
4-bar linkages!

I also wouldn't be surprised to see an upper limit on output RPM of robot elements to ensure we don't have a 3rd consecutive "shooter" year.

Re: 2014 Game
 

All good points...
FWIW, 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation. Factors in favor of tennis balls include: high visibility; cheap, readily available game piece; satisfy points 1&2 above.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Interesting concept... Tennis, how would it be played? I'm just asking questions

Re: 2014 Game
 

It wouldn't be exclusively "Robot Tennis"; the very first year of FIRST, the game piece was Tennis Balls. We could have a zone scoring type game with herding Tennis Balls.

Does anybody know if FIRST has released this year's game hint? Usually the game hint is released around December.

Re: 2014 Game
 

It usually comes out later in December. Calm down, everyone.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Thanks. I was just wondering.

Re: 2014 Game
 

Well this years "hints" or what we believe to be hints do point back to something in the past.