Reasonable Guess of the Game...
 

On a recent road trip to visit friends at their respective colleges (I'm a freshman), I went through Manchester. I stopped at a Denny's on the way at around 10:00 pm.

I had just gotten my food from my waiter when I realized he was wearing a polo shirt with the FIRST logo under his Denny's apron. I asked him about it and he explained that he worked his day job at FIRST as a custodian.

This man barely spoke any english, but he told me that he unloaded a gaint shipment of products from "American Standard." They make fiberglass steps from swimming pools. He said that he had unloaded a lot of boxes about 5'X10'.

It looks like stairs guys.....

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Actually, American Standard makes showers, toilets, bathtubs, etc, don't they??? More likely, FIRST is getting some new bathroom facilities. Besides, what stairs are 5' by 10'? That's a lil big.

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I'm looking at the steps in my spa right now. They are made by the folks over at Am. Std.

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Oh, ok. Are the stairs permanently attatched to the spa, or removable?

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My spa is a concrete set unit, but it had metal loops in the concrete that allows for the steps to be set in and attached.

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OK, so stairs are a definite possibility. Or, Dean Kamen is getting a hot tub for his office. I wondered where all that registration money went....

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We will have stairs...

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I'm done...others may reply now......sorry admin.

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This thread is so incredibly _________________ that I just can't believe it. :D You can fill in the blank with your own opinion on the prediction. :p

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do you have a waterproof laptop? ;)

seriously, one of our mentors has been saying since last year we'd get stairs, most of our team has aggreed with him. if this is factual, (which is a question you have to ask of every post in the rumor mill) then that would mean we couldn't use that nifty tranny we wanted to. :( :(

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You all can tell me my post is fake all you want. But I promise that if you go to the Denny's in Manchester, you will encounter the waiter names Jose. He will tell you all about it. So there.

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prehaps theyre just testing the I-Bot

and i also think first is going to try to keep the field reasnobaly affordable this year

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The question that keeps conflicting with me is when i went to Manchester this past year (9-6-03)for the "Yard Sale" and off season comp, I wanted to go to dennys to get a bight to eat, well there was a trouble to go to one in Manchester, N.H., and thats cause there isnt one in Manchester. The closest one to Manchester is in Nashua, N.H., which is about a 20 to 25 min drive from manchester... Dont get me wrong i dont live in Manchester and the Employee at FIRST could of given me incorrect info so please correct me if it is wrong.
~Mike

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Yahoo yellow pages has the closest Denny's at Nashua Mall, 15.5 miles away. This story could be true, I like the idea. The only real problem I see is fitting this staircase through a standard doorway. Also, That is some roadtrip. Ca to NH, I hope you are driving a hybrid.

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Naw, I drove the old truck. I'm sure it was a denny's. It may have been a ways away I guess. The waiter told me that there was also a shipment of hinges (to make the fiberglass steps able to fit through doorways).

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American Standard: http://www.americanstandard-us.com/

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I'll alert the local LEGO League teams to expect stairs next year...


Wetzel

Any truth to the story?
 

Not that I doubt the truthfulness of your story :rolleyes: but why would FIRST receive a giant shipment of playing field objects? They only have to build one field for kickoff and they aren't handing out 5'x10' boxes to each team to take back home. Do you have any more details that will convince us that your story is true? I consider this post to be a rumor and nothing more.

I hope it ain't so...
 

When I have mixed feelings about this post when I saw it.

First, I want to thank you for your honesty and for sharing the info with everyone else so you are not the only one with the advantage of this new found hint of that game, if that is what you are trying to do. I am not sure everyone would do the same thing.

Having said that, I am not quite sure about publicizing such knowledge if it is indeed the truth. I would hate to see FIRST's surprise for everyone waiting nervously and eagerly for the new game ruined after so long of a wait. Kickoff is supposed to be all exciting, as we watch the live feed while the FIRST people tease us with little hints here and there (do you remember Blair popping out of no where with a soccer ball back at 2002?). The long wait and everyone being surprised at the exact same time is one of the best moment I've ever experienced.

Now, if it is a joke, or just a rumor, then it's all good fun. But your challenge to others to verify the info makes this sound more convincing than a joke or a rumor. So I don't know. I honestly hope we can preserve the moment FIRST prepared for us all year by thinking about this less, and not go any further beyond more speculation and guesses. But you are the one to choose the right thing to do, not me or other people.

Truth or joke? Time will tell.

Re: I hope it ain't so...
 

That's the point. Not to doubt the original poster's integrity, but you can't believe everything you read online. For all we know, he could be lying.

That said...it seems logical enough that the stairs would be for testing, say, the iBot wheelchair. And it seems like getting up stairs would be a nightmare for a lot of teams (with balance being the major issue). I don't think the field will involve stairs, but who knows?

Besides...someone on CD's going to be wrong eventually. Right now, our field is underwater with a fake ice surface, stairs, gigantic goals, and inflatable clowns... :D

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don't forget the pop bottles

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Wow, this thread is going nowhere!!!

Back to its original intent:

My prediction:

-30-45 seconds of autonomous or an emphasis on semiautonomous functions.
-Dry ice and spa accessories are out of the question, FIRST would like every team to be able to build a practice field at thier school (so Home Depot and Wal-Mart materials exclusivly)
-A lengthening of the match time. If there is going to be more time for autonomous then this will definatley be nessacary (sorry for the spelling). 2:30 to 3:00 is my guess.
-Expect more ramps and obsticles (NOT Am-Sd Shower units).
-Obscure objects (like the containers from last year) will have to be manipulated, rather then balls.

As for a game, I have no clue.

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I would not expect match times to change, especially by becoming longer. As it is, there are regionals that can only accomodate 7 or 8 matches per team over the course of the 1.5 days of qualifying. Increasing the length of time of each match will decrease the number of matches per team to even more ridiculous levels.

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Some, like GLR, barely even fit in 6, let alone 7 or 8. I'd say longer match times are a no, unless more teams were to be playing.... 3v3, anyone? Muahahahaha.....

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I agree with time frames being the same. As for ice surfaces I am all for that but what about some of those warmer places. As for the game, look for about the same time in auto mode but maybe not at the beginning. You can bet that there will be something that adds that extra challenge to the game. How about different size balls scoring different points and maybe a suspended goal.

Bring on the hockey pucks. ;)

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Finally a great game.... 2 minutes to flush a toliet, and guess what everyone, the toilets will be filled with water(or a water substitue) so it will be a YOU GUESSED IT water game!!!!!!

*goes off to bathroom to flush the toliet*

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to go along with that. The good thing about not having autonomous in the beginning is it basically renders the "dead reckoning" method of programming uselss. By having it near the end or middle of a match, bots will have to rely more on sensors. 1) its more challenging 2) its more impressive 3) its more like how true autonomous robots operate (off sensors and input)

I think it would be fun, but then again I dont have to program these things.

Hockey pucks, kind of small dont you think? For bots the size of the ones in FIRST, hockey pucks are kind of small scoring objects, although that makes it more challenging, and fun.

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Stairs would simply be built from wood and cornered with steel angle. Fiberglass with these robots??

I have been saying that the auto mode will be at the end. imagine a zone where your robot scores points for being there. Put some reflective tape on the wall behind it and you can find it using previous sensors.
Choose to head there early and loose ability to manipulate scoring objects. Allow your robot to find its way there at the end and maximize points.

And we have used Pucks. It was 4 foot across in '99 :-) I would like to see that as the robot scoring area.

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So will the elusive FIRST water finaly be found?

Pucks would be good.

Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~
That shrewd and knavish sprite called Dave Lavery.

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not to mention all the talk of drums :D

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OR!!! we could just wait until saturday. I mean, it's not a really long way away anyway. (Wow... that's a lot of 'way'.)

*Robot Nerds and Techno Geeks UNITE!!!*

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http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/doc_updt.htm

First has a materials list and i don't think were having stairs

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OTOH, it looked to me like you could build some pretty robust stairs using the materials on that list.

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It looks to me like you could build almost anything with that list of materials...ramps, stairs, bumps, etc. Why would they be so naive to send out information that is a dead giveaway. And secondly, this is no indication as to the surfaces either, as since it is the cheap model, lumber is substituted for just about everything. I don't think much at all can be inferred from that materials list.

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But the three casters do raise a good point. Perhaps a triangular scoring goal or triangular (dare I say it and risk a painful death from veterans) puck...