Possibility of a flying object?
 

Based on the teaser trailer released earlier this week, it has come to my attention that multiple times it says such things as "Prepare to take flight" and "Ready your contraption". What I find most interesting is that here you see in the logo of this season actually has a flying machine in it. My question is, do you think that there will be some type of object in the air? If you do, do you think that teams will need to capture an object in the air or make their own "flying machine"?

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

It's an interesting idea but I doubt FIRST will be having teams building their own flying machines (drones, basically). There are a variety of reasons for this, if the drones were the only robot a team built, every team would essentially have to get a brand new kit with completely different electronics, motors, hardware, and batteries (FRC hardware isn't exactly weighted for flight). If FIRST built the game to have drones in addition to a normal FRC bot (think mini-bots) then you would run into the issue of putting an additional wireless communication system on the field, causing further interference than what is already experienced. On top of all that, in either scenario the field would have to be completely netted off for safety purposes or even completely redesigned.

Now that all said, I could see a flying machine being a field element (like a helium "blimp" that you have to inflate or lead around the field via a tether). Something like that would be a more controlled element, and something that would be less likely to cause issues (except for if they break free and hit the ceiling).

Of course, now that I think about it, the picture you posted did just make me notice something I hadn't before...









This is a football game everyone...

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

It is worth noting that Qualcomm was showing off a smart autonomous quadcopter at Worlds. While I don't think it could be directly controlled by teams, it could be used as a game piece or a unique field element

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I was playing with FRC downloadable content. One of the ringtones is a shovel sound. In the history of rinetones, it's a really, really, dumb tone. I think is a crucial detail of the game. Meaning to shovel coal to make something go like a train, or fly like the blimp. The more we deliver to a coal bin, the more arena blimp inches forward. We are building front end loaders! Mystery solved. You may all sleep well tonight

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

The ideal alliance will have one front end loader and two dump trucks, for efficient cycling.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Reminds me a bit of the Nerf Aero Howler. I seriously hope this is the game piece. That would be fun.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Something like that would be awesome, but the fins are very fragile and if they get bent they don't fly properly.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

It depends on your definition of flying.

If you mean a game piece or mini-bot which is unsupported by the floor (either directly or through other condensed phase substances) for more than a couple of tenths of a second, I'd say it's almost certain. The last eleven games have encouraged or at least explicitly allowed game pieces to be launched by robots and/or thrown by human players. Triple Play was the most recent game in which throwing game pieces was prohibited for both players and robots, according to my archived rules. With the end of the teaser ending with the words "take flight", I would be more surprised if nothing in this game was allowed to "fly" than I was when the bumpers got tossed in the bin in the 2015 kickoff video.

If you mean flight that is sustained for more than about two seconds (e.g. lighter-than-air or powered flight), I'd guess 50%, or just a bit more - total guess, though.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

The title of this thread made me think that someone was speculating that the 2017 game is based on Quidich

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I seriously hope so too.
Already thinking of ways to spiral that thing out, on its way forward from a robot.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

A "flying object" could simply refer to a game piece in a shooting game (specifically a football shaped piece) however, if we are to expect a flying bot in the match this year, I would expect it to be in the endgame as minibots. It's not unreasonable for people to make their own quadcopters, right? So a voucher for some of the parts could come in the KoP, and the endgame could just be get a minibot onto a 5 (or something) ft platform.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

It would be sweet if they meant for us to build a "Flying Robot" but I see this as a very low possibility. They're may be a flying game piece but my prediction is that one of the game pieces will have the illusion of flying... maybe using zip lines or having an object propel through the air. i don't think game designers will go as far as making an actual flying object. But that would be AWESOME

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I'm mostly thinking traditional two-roller launcher, but with same-handed mecanum wheels.

Concept Maps (CMs) seemed like such a good idea when I first read about them, except that I realized that they needed an "encapsulation" to function as parentheses do for algebra, but my conversations with the authors never achieved any traction. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a CM since that lived up to that initial paper, including new CMs from the original authors.
Just out of curiosity, what do you intend your colors/shapes to mean? The pentagons are obviously "authoritative information", but the others mostly seem inconsistent. All but two of the red ovals are "leaves", and none of the light blue round-corner ovals are, but the purple hexagons and the green trapezoids are a mystery.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

The fins of this would also be pretty fragile, but it looks like the Aerobie Football resembles the oval shaped craft in the teaser more.

http://www.aerobie.com/product/football/



It would be pretty cool for FIRST to be able to support one of the smaller toy manufacturers out there, especially with the very scientific/engineered focus of Aerobies products.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I agree. Launching Aeropresses would be pretty cool.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Scaling down a JUGS machine would be an interesting challenge.

This vid suggests it could be done but is not trivial.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Agreed! I'm a huge fan of the Aerobie Ring. I didn't know they had a football. So cool!

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

What if they made a game piece out of 4 of these things attached together? Or if they made the game to launch these?

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

well i think maybe we can throw the totes from RR

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

My team has been talking about a flying minibot that might "fly" across a string. Or maybe just fly on its own. Either way sounds awesome!!!!:D :D :D

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I just don't see how football and a steampunk theme would go together. Personally I want to see a drone game ;)
Taggerun

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Coffee game confirmed.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Oh no... I had one of these when I was a kid, these would be an absolute nightmare for robots to manipulate (and they would get shredded)... please FIRST, anything but this. :eek:

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I mean they usually have specifically designed game pieces, so maybe a football that is textured with cogs and such would fit right in.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Find a trailer for the 2007 film Leatherheads. Steampunk football would look like that.

Kinda brute force and dirty, compared with the modern game.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Last year the FTC game "FIRST ResQ" had little plastic figurines that could be triggered to slide down a zipline: Game Animation

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

And Nature's Fury (FLL 2013) had a cargo plane landing on a zip line.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Had not thought of that!! Ops. ;)
Taggerun

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

So we had forklifts in 2015 and now front end loaders in 2017. First has really embraced the industrial side of robotics.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Then there's this: https://flybrix.com/

Note, "Limited Availability". Nuff said.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Perhaps that is because they busy filling a big order for a company with 5 meaningful letters in it's name.

In reality this is a really stupid product, like $189 for what is basically a $30 Chinese drone with a LEGO frame.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Maybe the flying objects could be 2 "blimps" that launch down zip lines at the end of the game, dropping bonus balls/object/whatever. It could be cool. Or maybe push your own blimp to the end of the zip-line or something.
I Apologize in advance for my horrible drawing I did in 2 minutes.Attachment 21124

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

This. Is. Awesome! But...

...I somewhat agree. It's not really stupid, IMO, just overpriced. There are special LEGO bricks to hold the motors(maybe why they're so expensive?), but you could get a cheap Chinese drone and just rebuild it out of LEGO. Though the kit does make it easier, but not worth nearly $200.

I think you might be on to something. The opposing corner objects look familiar(FTC). But I think(at least, I hope) the minibots, if they exist, will actually fly. Possibly with balloons or helicopters/drones with protected rotors. Or maybe some sort of short-distance plane...wait. I think I've got it! It will be one of those gliders that you charge and throw, with a capacitor to run the prop, but it only lasts for a few seconds. Something done in the regular game will "fuel" these planes, and then they'll be launched during endgame. Score will be determined by distance, max height, and/or flight duration.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Now that you've pointed out that it has limited availability you've guaranteed FRC will heavily consider using it. Darn it Gary, you know better than that.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

This time, the MiniBots will be provided by FLL teams?

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I like your thinking, that'd be pretty cool. I know over in some other thread that people were talking about shoveling "coal" to power something, and it does make sense.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Hmm, combining that coal idea with the football idea from earlier and of course the whole steam punk idea maybe footballs will be black (to look like coal) and maybe it will be the alliance who gets the most "coal" into their furnace?

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

I thought about this some more, and I think it could work like this: Alliances will place coal and maybe water(you decide whether or not it's real water) into a furnace/boiler. The amount of each determines how much "fuel" is applied to that alliance's blimp/airship, which will be stationed in a corner of the field. Either "fuel " will inflate the balloon, or just charge a battery/capacitor on the blimp. During the endgame, the blimps will be launched(or can be launched prematurely if desired), and possibly remote controlled by human players. It is also possible that coal will be placed somewhere on the field, put onto the field by human players, carried by a train around the perimeter of the field which may be controlled by human players, or any combination of those.

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Honestly from what I noticed. Last game had a ball... now you can say I'm wrong if you want but I have noticed that every other year has a ball..... SO if last year was a ball How could it be a footBALL I honestly think it is a frisbee because last year was a ball. But the blimp does make me think they are going to switch up the order of ball and no ball. That's just what I've noticed
I also have the board game steamworks and it's a game where you build machines..... so I think there is going to be some building by the robots

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

Balloon Game 2K17 confirmed. Blimps are just giant balloons, right? :)

Re: Possibility of a flying object?
 

So based off the patterns I saw, the bottom row shows my best guess for the game, ignoring the game pieces, as that the least predictable in my eyes. ignoring the Steampunk theme, which I think is important if you're really looking for good guess at the game (look at Stronghold, that definitely wasn't capture the flag). but all these thoughts on a football-like piece seems likely although it also gives me flags from Stronghold vibes , the zip-line blimp theory seems to fit a tiny bit better.