FIRST hinting at 2003 Game???
 

I was reading through the veteran and rookie section on the FIRST website and found what I belive are clues to this years game....

1. In the rookie section paragrah one the say "ramp up". Is this just FIRST's own way of saying getting ready or are they hinting that there will be some sort of a ramp returning to the 2003 game?

2. In both sections when mentioning Gracious Professionalism they mention:
"...through its team members balancing competition..." Again is this just wording or is it a hint that the aspect of balancing will be returning to the game?

Jay

Hmmm... interesting... I guess we'll have to wait and see! :D

- Katie

... 114 days til kick off ...

I think you're just flakier than dried potato mix :D

If you look at the team forum notes, FIRST already confirmed that field is flat with no obstructions. Further more they also revealed that this year's field will not be rectangular.

They could be referring to the 2001 game. I don't really know.

i wouldnt mind seeing a balancing act return in 2003. that was probably the hardest thing most teams could do since a majority of teams went with treads rather then wheels. .

when did they mention changing the dimensions of the field? is the shape change a pretty much guarantee? w00t!

I really hated the balancing act, I had to pick up the robot with the arms to many times, and the fields were very inconsistent.

I would like to see obstructions. It would make the game more exciting. Zones work too but that shouldn't be the whole focus of the game like Zone Zeal.

I never heard the comment about field shape or obstructions before but from all the "facts" posted on these boards we have the following so far:

Spectator and TV friendly
Not rectangluar
No field obstructions
(other facts???)

Keep in mind that the following must also be considered:

Cost
Ease of assembly - disassembly
Durability

Can anyone derive a playing field from this little information we have? Possibly a bi-level section. Will there even be the same idea for goals? Only on January 4 will we know .

Also look at near the end of both sections of those pages where it says "This dynamic tension" Hmmmm. Could their be a spring loaded door/bridge/etc? I think we're on to something here.

I also had thought that FIRST had pretty much guaranteed us that the field dimensions were to stay the same for the most part from year to year. This may become an issue because there are many teams with limited space when it comes to creating the field. I know that RAGE has barely enough room for this years field. How are we supposed to create a new one if it is going to be larger? That would mean that our donated practice facility/ meeting facility would be half useless, especially because most of the building is done at one of the high schools. And I know since our facility is be donated to us and the relator(sp?) still has it up for lease that they definitly will not allow us to do any major construction/destruction jobs. As it is now to get to the practice room from the meeting room you have to go throught the bathroom. And when we had asked if we could make a door in between the two places they immediately shot the idea down. So they would definitly would say no to allowing us to tear down some walls to accomidate a field. So basically what i am saying is that it will probably be a pain in the arse to try and get any of the high schools let us use the gym etc. to practice in. And i hope that FIRST decides against this bad idea.

Ha. We have never had an arena. We used 2 half-built goals, a peice of carpet, and a large wooden frame. (The large wooden frame was a very crude and unstable player station :P)

It _could_ be possible that they do something like this:

If my drawing is too crappy, they may just put barriers in the old arena to change the shape. *shrug*

I doubt that would happen due to visibility problems...stupid spectators :)

wow... you people have way too much free time, i just wanna wait till the 4th to find out!!


Badjokeguy

Could be triangular, and still leave room for spectators.

I meant for it to be equilateral, but I'm sure you get the idea.

So has it actually been officialy said that the field will not be rectangular this year?

A new shape would be sweet! And throw the hp's out of the player station! Give them their own again!!! :D