It helps negate the cost of buying more clowns.

Unless they were made like this.

The ONLY thing that won't be broken will be a $1,000,000 bill that the teams will have to collect to own. :yikes: :ahh:

I'm guessing that Dave was actually looking for THESE for a FIRST related event???

Anyways, as for the original thread topic.

YES!! Merle was correct on his guess of my prediction in THIS POST

Too many things I noticed lead to my belief of a drum of some sort being used in the game in 2004.

Hint 1 explained) The Movie Drumline; Release date 12-13-02, if you didn't catch that reference (a non sporting event, but a highly competitive event that just happens to have the Nationals take place at the Atlanta Dome in Georgia.) (Very similar to us this year!)

Hint 2 explained ) As stated before, the Georgia Dome itself, as a setting to the movie (And our new home for the Championship event this year as well)

Hint 3 explained) The e-mail from FIRST that had references to drums. (BTW, Sachiel7, I received this e-mail on Wed 8/20/2003 @ 9:09 PM from my team's main contact, so it had to be released from FIRST before that!)

As for the other reference from a member on another team sharing a thought with me at River Rage, I will let that person decide whether or not to share their thought with the rest of you as well. :D

Now as for Drums falling on robots or all the other guesses you all had for this prediction, I don't think that is correct.

As i said before, I think that the Drum or drums (55 gallon as guessed), will be stationary and we will have to grab something or somethings out of them and separate them somehow. Reaching and grabbing in a barrel will make you use the banner sensors to “see” the items inside with (retro reflective?) tape on them. Autonomous will help in the sense that it will be useful in the same way as this year, whereas it will work for you in the first bit of the round and help “score big” somehow with co-operation with that banner sensors. Who knows, maybe they will even throw in some other sensors this year (proximity, or others?)

Ok, so now everyone knows my official prediction, what do you think of it???

(Hey, it’s better than the usual “water” idea that gets thrown around every year!!!)


Oh, and if this idea is wrong again like my idea was last year, oh well!! :yikes: :ahh: :]

I dunno I like the ideas of using the drums for a playing object in the game but It hink that ur prediction as to how it would be used isnt going to fall out the way u planned. It just seems to me in all my lacke of experience that for FIRST to do something like looking in bins a sorting them would be marching tot he beat of a different DRUM. As to exacly what though I have no clu nor does ne body really though. However I deffinatly think it would be cool to do something else with the srums like maybe putting them in a chute of some sort or something I dunno All I know I am sure Dean's mean brain and all of the other people out their will definatly some up with soemthign even better then the year before like they always do.

Something to think about:

If I was on FIRST staff, I'd spend a lot of time messing with team's minds, and I'd thoroughly enjoy it.


I wonder how they feel... ;) :D

The BEAT of the Drums
 

I like your reasons for guessing that drums will be important, but I think it would be much more interesting to use musical drums than simply drums as containers. Using audio to help with autonomous would be fiarly economical and would add a huge new aspect to the game, though making the audible data useful without having too much interference would be rather difficult (imagine the huge numbers of fans screaming in the final match of Championships...)
Possibly using ultrasonic sensors to measure distance or having some sort of "drums" on the field that would produce ultrasonic or subsonic beats that you could only find and hunt down with sensors on your robot? Sounds fun and challenging to me.

Also about the game but not related to drums, I'm hoping they make the field more dynamic, with a large random element, like squirrels or small dogs or some other sort of animal, though PETA (the humane treatment of animals nuts, not the People for Eating Tasty Animals) would mug Dean if live animals were part of the game.

I think pauluffel has hit the nail (or drum) right on the head here.

They could be stationary, and thus allow any robot to determine its position with decent accuracy.

The only problem is that with the crowd and all, the noise could confuse the robots.

Thanks for the info on the Blast!
I guess I just missed it.
I think you're definitely on to something. I'm not sure in what sense, but drums do make sense. They haven't been used before (or at least, while i've been around). I kinda like the idea of drums. BUT...what other scoring object may be used???
Like you said, something may be stored in the drums. This is probably likely if they're stationary. Or, they may be "scoring areas", like getting objects in them counts for points. I'm not sure, but I think we've definitely got something going here.

Finding things in drums
 

It seems rather unlikely that FIRST would make people look in the drums for things. Although it certainly would be a challenge to build and program a robot like that, it may get a little boring in the stands watching a robot find things in barrels.

But as always, it will be difficult to tell what those guys/gals at FIRST will have in store for us this year.
:D

A good idea....
 

I over heard a really good idea today in one of out robotics workshop:

Student1: I know how to get big sponsor money for the FIRST Championship in GA- design a game with 2 liter Coke bottles!

Coca-cola is headquartered in Atlanta and they would love to see all those Coca-Cola bottles flying around and become the "official drink of FIRST."

Student2: yet and think of all that free cola we can drink in the pits!


HINT, HINT, FIRST and Coca-Cola.

:D

Re: A good idea....
 

Trivia: There is a coke bottling plant right across the river from FIRST HQ in Manchester, NH.

-Pat

Re: A good idea....
 

Actually, the president of Coca-Cola and his wife are fully funding a Georgia rookie team out of their pockets. They are involved so let's just wait and see. :D

Hrmm seems like Dean actually asked a "friend" of his from some unnamed soft drink company if he would be seeing the first symbol on their drink cans like coke has the olympic rings on theirs... the guy stood out of the crowd and gave a thumbs up.. but I dont think anything came of it.. this was at nats in 2001

Ahhh..the mystical FIRST bottled water. There have been various sightings at rare intervals.


Not drums, but hocky pucks.


Wetzel