Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

I can attest to the fact that red DOES make things go faster

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

This recently posted video does show a team having a robot load a Nerf football into their robot. Maybe they know something....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE3RIf0Xjfs

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

I drive past the one and only Wiffle factory every day and I've noticed no unusual activity lately. Plus, I probably would have heard something unless they're VERY good at keeping secrets. The place is smaller than most would think, considering every real Wiffle ball anyone has ever seen came from that little building.

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

My team has actually been playing with these this fall... I wanted something challenging for them to prototype around, and these fit the bill when I saw them. At Target. First prototype shooter went about 15 feet run off a drill, could definitely go full length if we spun it up to CIM speed!

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

I agree with the several of you who don't believe that this is some sort of game reveal. These wheels have been showing up on amazing robots for at least the past several years, so it is consistent with many other FRC products that get designed, developed or implemented with high level teams and eventually become COTS. My team was developing something similar within the past year, to be 3D printed using NinjaFlex. This new product makes that effort kind of obsolete.

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

Frisbee intake wheels?

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

Well if we truly believe these are specifically designed for this year's game they should be sold out within the week and will not be back in stock until mid to late March. :ahh:

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

I have similar concerns about the wheel slipping on the hex at high speeds but I think a pair of plates will keep the rubber from expanding near the hex.

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

Shoutouts to Team Botman's 2014 bot, which used frisbees as a grabber.

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

Back in the day when Mike invented these stars for Breakaway soccer balls they worked great. We also made a version with a plastic center hub to stop the problem with rounding out the square hole, these were never released to the public.

They did solve the problem of rounded holes but that little change stiffened them up a little tiny bit and made them less effective. I was pretty amazed how that little change made such a big difference.

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

The Nerf Howler is also in stock and readily available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.au, and elsewhere...which, combined with an earlier not-supposed-to-be-a-hint-but-was-totally-a-hint, tells me the Nerf Howler is not the game piece.

(Of the four possible hints--if you count this as one--that point to the game piece being a standard regulation football, it's the "First Choice Points to get some shipped, International Teams Only" that seals the deal in my mind. There is literally no other playing piece I can think of that is ubiquitous in the US but difficult to obtain elsewhere. I've been pretty good at guessing overall game themes most years, and game elements some years, and I've never been as convinced I'm right as I am this year.... That said, it'll be fun to be right, and as fun to be wrong.)

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

Andymark just uploaded a new video on Facebook with the following http://imgur.com/a/PHbIB

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

WHEELS!

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

New LED Strips at AndyMark (WITH CONNECTORS EVEN!). What could this mean?

http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-3543.htm

Re: New AndyMark Product Game Hint???
 

That international game piece option was available in 2016, as well.