Collin,

That would be really cool to see... however,

I am just familiar enough with the hardware setup of the IFI electronics to say that 3 vs 3 is no do-able unless some MAJOR re-working of the field control system.

Yikes!

And then we have the software changes for 3 vs 3 to deal with.

Double yikes!

I'd be willing to be that the IRI will be 2 vs 2 this year. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a ref. :)

Andy B.

Andy...very true. I would hate to give any programmer unneccessary headaches. What about plugging in the controller for the third robot...or would that mess up the autonomous mode and all that jazz? I really don't know.

What controller?

The driver controller. When we go to demos and stuff...we just plug in the driver station with a 6v chord and we can drive without tethering. Again I say...I really don't know what I'm talking about...just brainstorming.

Well, 3v3 is theoretically possible. You would, however, need at least 6 (12 would be preferable) Arena Controllers and radio channels to do so. 2v2 requires only 4 controllers and 4 channels. Now, a standard FIRST regional uses 8 controllers and 8 channels, but at IRI last year, I believe only 4 controllers and channels were used (probably for cost reasons). So, it's possible, but the organizers would need to rent more equipment to do so.

Of course, this is just from the controller standpoint. You would also have to account for an extra place to put the third alliance's controls, a place to start their robot from, and the scoring system. All in all, it just seems like a whole lot of work.

IF it wasn't for the large amount of work that would be required to accomplish these modifications to the game they would definately be fun to try out....

Maybe someone can come up with an alternate set of rules that would acurately incorperate 3 partners instead of 2

3 on 3 huh
 

That sounds very interisting. I would expect to see lots of ganging up on other teams though. The competition will be fierce anyways, and throwing another robot element into the big picture....i can see this folks, and all i see is ugly. broken bots are no fun. but if we all play nice, this wont happen. but who needs to play nice huh? we'll play rough and like it!

All of the scoring code aside, I have a feeling James at FIRST really wouldn't like us playing around with his PLC code to get three teams to work...not to mention with the setup this year, you wouldn't have a third set of mats...

National finals rematch
 

Team 494 The Martians have never been to the IRI competition, it sure sounds like a great time. If the national champs all attend, I wonder if they would be interested in a rematch with the finalist teams 343,25, and 494. We would love to have another shot at the champs. I don't know if 343 and 25 are planning to attend but I'll bet we could talk them into it.

Re: National finals rematch
 

I would love to see a rematch between these awesome teams.

Re: National finals rematch
 

A little birdy told me that 25 was seriously considering making the trip to Indianapolis in July ;)

Re: Re: National finals rematch
 

what birdy is this?? usually the birdy comes to me first and tells me.. hehe

Re: Re: Re: National finals rematch
 

Can I lend a hand to get this all together
 

David,

This is Luke Ward from 45. Need any help with graphics, banners, or T-shirt designs?

Think you'll pull a truck again? ;)