Annual Thread: Whats this years game going to be?
 

Well everyone this years Kickoff is less than a month away!! Wow, this FIRST year went by fast!

Some people did a little detective work to find out where this years Championship was going to be and did a pretty good job, maybe we can do some to find out what this years game is going to be.

I think this years game is going to have some things that no other games have ever had. I also think the field is going to be rectangular, because FIRST spent lots of money designing the all metal field. They also have lots of them and they can be easily modified. It will probably also have some weird way to score points like the FLOPPIES! I think they will also bring in obstacles again. I also think they will have also have a stationary goal and movable ones. The will probably keep some type of robot/home zone, because that is a way to score points. It will also be rookie friendly and be easy to calculate points.

I have a gut feeling that says this year the challenge is gonna be tough.. why else would FIRST promise everyone that a "quick" solution for building bases would be given?

that same gut feeling says that whatever it is, we're gonna have to go over something..

For some reason I don't think Round Objects will be a part of this year. Cubes instead of balls.. goals not in a circular pattern, either octagonal or decagonal [possible DEKAgon joke, god I hope not]. And I don't mean like last year's goal or the year before with the circle of PVC.. I think any extensions will also not be in a circle.

I expect something else dealing with semi-precise balancing, due to the Segway HT launch (possible promotions other than dean wandering around on his Segway).

Hmm.. what else.. I don't think there will be items intended for tug-o-war this time around, FIRST seems to always throw a kink in games to change the biggest part. (2 x 2 competition with hanging bar became 4x0 with teeter-totter became 2 x 2 tug-o-war)

I think this year will again have 2 x 2 alliances with a dead robot still being of score. (Nothing 0, Stretcher 10pts, home zone 10pts).

Or hey.. maybe with the expansions.. a 3 x 3. Might be a bit far-fetched though considering badbrad's comment "FIRST spent lots of money designing the all metal field." I wouldn't be surprised at the same size field.

Well.. I've tossed in well more than my 2¢

Hexagon shaped fields (smaller than past years rectangles and flat), the scoring objects will either be golf balls or something of similar size, and you will score them in lexan troughs (similar to 2000, but smaller, and mobile) that can be moved around and scored on the sides of the field. My guess is that the game will be 2x2 again too.

I'm going to cover all of our bases mechanical wise this year. Anyway I've got this odd notion that our robot will have to climb stairs. It's got to be some obstacle course with something thrown in to collect. :D Anway check these websites out. This is the closest looking wheel design to the ibot and is what allows it to climb up stairs.(yeah I know the ibot has four wheels and that has six wheels but this machine doesn't have gyroscopes)
http://tyranny.egregious.net/~khrome/lego/
http://www.visi.com/~dc/tristar/

I have no idea, but I want to guess. There is a high possibility that the shape of the field has changed--pentagon?--(the game has already been designed, so don't bother me you grammar grinches :p), but I seriously think it has remained the same. 2 vs 2 is once again the alliance/matchup structure, and opposing teams start on opposite sides of the field. The main challenge of the game requires robots to be fast and maneuverable, not beasts; it requires robot operators to be more skillful; it does not involve robots getting to an "endzone" at the end of a match, but rather an end position (think back to 2000); and it uses stationary "goals" in an attempt to disencourage boring push and shove, but has several items that can be grabbed from "worlds" and carried to a robot's "end position." A robot scores by doing something with big balls (think back to 2001), not sure what though. Tallying the score at the end of a match has become so easy its almost hard. Thats all I can think of right now. I feel like nostradamus--vague predictions, and all..:)

Here is what I do know for a fact

* The field will not be rectangular (said at team forum)

*The field is flat (said at team forum)

*The game will be simpler for TV viewing (said at team forum)

*FIRST will not be adding anything fancy that will cost them a lot of $$

Here is what I guess.

*Similar to last year, in the respect there is going to be two types of robots, goal robots, and ball robots (balls, floppies, whatever). Both types of robots will have an equal responsibility.

*2v2--Most Definitely, this is always been the preferred type of competition.

*I believe the things you pick up are something standard like a soccer ball (like last year), tennis, basketball, etc, so they can readily purchased anywhere.

*I heard a rumor of getting an updated Operator Interface with a built in antenna, USB ports, and easier default channel switching (no dongle).

*No flexible rules, like tape measures from last year.

* A 3x rule, or something similar, so the idea is to get the closet possible score. FIRST never believed in a shut out kind of game, for the qualifications.

[EDIT] The BOM (Bill of Materials) should be comming soon

- 5 bot melee
- Pentagon, bots start at each corner
- (Basket) Balls located on a raised platform in the middle, platform with 2 ramps going up; sides allow for robots that can climb up stairs
- Bring balls to a one of five large zones from edge to edge with a box-like thing suspended over it, if you can place it on the board, 2 points, otherwise, 1 point
- The box will have really low walls, so balls can be knocked out of it, and balls can be knocked out of the lower zone, too
- The three teams with the highest score get the sum of the losing two

This probably goes against the grain of some other ideas (like alliances, although maybe you could do interteam plotting and scouting between matches) and suggestions, but it's just a fun speculation.

-Eric

Didn't we already get this year's OI in the EduBot Kits?
Unless I'm mistaken it's the same one as in past years. I don't think FIRST would send a second one in the kits, it's too much $$$.

See Post:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=15388

next year's game
 

I think there is going to be some element of automation next year. Maybe for the first 15-30 seconds, the controls are disabled.

I think there is going to some sort of raised scoring object (goal, etc) also.

Hmmmm????

The EDUBot is an Isaac16 (the ones used in Battlebots)

And the ones we used is an Isaac32

The Isaac16 were most distinguishable by having gold ports, and the Isaac32 has silver ports.

It was originally stated that the Isaac16 was incompatible was the Isaac32

The website says however that they are both compatible. Weird.

Another thing that is weird though is that the OI still has only 3 digit display, while there is 4 digit teams this year.

Our team still hasn’t receive our edubot, so I don’t know

followup
 

ok. it's 1:30am, I have mspaint, I have thoughts.

Nothing good can from this.

Follow-up to my thoughts on the game (above, note the FIRST symbols were hand made.)

That's the Robot Controller, the OI is the one we will be using for competition this year.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=15388

Re: followup
 

Yes! Thats how I envision it.. however, I think the alliance members will start together at opposite sides of the field.. this setup may warrant a change in the shape of the field, or it might not.
[edit:]This is the image that kept hanging out in my mind, but I am sticking with my post for the guess.[/edit]

I noticed that the control system manual wont be coming out untill jan 5 (day after kick off) wounder if this means the control system plays a more important role this year and they cant give out the manual cause it would give it away. Here