Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Maybe instead of 4 v 4, keep the same amount of bots but 3 alliances of 2 teams....add that mysterious Green alliance everyone keeps talking about....

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Yeah. Keeping logistics in mind, I assume this means something like different playing surface or bumper rules or robot size or something.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Ah, but what if you make the robots smaller as well!

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

:)

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

I think if they went with the motor constraints they had before it would be much harder in general. Size is a good point though.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

I would love to see a small size reduction and much more limits on #of high powered motors.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Something new could be reusing an old set of rules... 2004 on ice!

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Unless you change the amount of time it takes per match "cycle." ;)

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

What about 4v4 but only 6 robots in the field at a time? There could be a holding area for the extra robots and would switch off at certain points during the match. Similar to hockey. Just a thought...

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

There is an interesting dynamic that could be done with a different type of minibots.

Teams are required to make 2 robots, one is the minibot.

Each match has full size robots and minibots (presumably in a segregated section).

It could be that your minibot is usually not in a match w/ your main robot.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

I don't think the number of teams fielding robots per match will change, mostly because of the AndyMark field having 6 driver stations. They're not going to go any wider because the field (and required field equipment) already takes up pretty much a whole gym floor. I can see height/weight requirements changing. I don't see bumpers going away, but rules about design may change. I can't really see a 2x2x2 game with the AndyMark field setup (as 1 alliance would have their drivers separated). I could see some of the motors going away completely (taking away the CIM would really make things interesting). I could also see taking away motor quantity restrictions, which is something that's been lobbied for for some time now.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Last time these were done:
Alliance Size: 2005 (Kept at 3)
Number of Alliances: 1999 with the advent of alliances
Match Length: 2007 (Matches went from 2:10 to 2:15)
Bumper Rules: Every year they change slightly from my experiance
Field Surfaces: 2009
Robot Size: Frame Perimeter 2013, Height Classes 2007

Hey the field was technically a different size this year then previous years

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Don't forget you could run 2x2x2 with your alliance partner opposite you (only your opponents on the same side of the field). Which would be fair and present interesting opportunities with communication (which possibly could be part of the challenge as well -- driver station to driver station messages could be really interesting). Especially if there was still a significant assist type bonus at play.

Also consider a situation where 2x2x2 would allow for dynamic teaming red and green work together to slow a powerhouse blue, etc. Or if scoring was windowed so your alliance could only score during 1/3 of the match, and both the other 2 alliances would be working together on defense.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

Match length changed from 2:15 to 2:30 in 2014.

Re: [FRC Blog] - NASA Grants and Something New for 2015
 

ITT: People making assumptions