Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Those would be massive studs, normal studs are 2x4s. We used 8x8s to support our hottub deck(and water is HEAVY). So perhaps we are getting our water game now that we have the structure to support it?


Also found this when I googled Vmax=10ft/sec.
How can I use the power from a rubber band to it's fullest?


Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Hey guys, just wanted to update you on the cheap BOM for the field, FIRST updated it today and fixed some errors and added more info. This includes the casters that will be used and fixed some plywood/lumber sizes.

Cheap BOM for 2004 FIRST Game Field!

~Mike

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Looks like they didn't fix everything. The link for the casters lists the price as $11.92 each, which is far from the $22 listed on the BOM. Maybe they really meant 6 casters :yikes:

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Looks like Joel was on to something in the official email blast just released it gives that as a hint!!!!!!!!

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

The castors have now been specified as swivel castors.

Theater tech. wisdom teaches us that you do not use swivel castors on anything that has to rotate in place. When it changes direction, the castor has to swing around and it can bind when it drags the wheels sideways. If something needs to rotate, non-swivel castors arranged around the circumference, tangential to the rotation are the way to go.

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

"Vmax = 10 ft/sec

Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on."

Hm, well after looking at those 2 hints I came up with a few possibilities:

1) Based on Joel J.'s idea about starting on a platform, perhaps we are starting on a mobile 3-sided staircase pyramid

2) the second hint, being a quote from Stairway to Heaven could just be the suggestion of stairs.

3) or the second hint could mean that there is a midfield barrier with 2 ways of getting across. 1 of those ways could (and hopefully will) be a staircase. The other way, not sure.

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

I really like the ideas that have been throwing around.

One thing I know for certain, that if there are stairs, they are not going to be like standard stairs, and they are not going to be tall. Imagine a pushing match, or a robot falling down a flight of stairs....not pretty.

Therefore, i do like the idea of platforms, each raised maybe 4" above the previous one.

I also am a little shocked that the "cheap" bill of materials comes to nearly $500 dollars. I also wonder if first has put any thought into making this field easy to assemble and/or portable. Not every team has that much money, or that much space to work with.

Still, only 4 days left to find out if any of this speculation was worthwhile.

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

perhaps, i know this is completely against what people are saying out there, that the quote's origin is an attempt to throw people on the wrong track. ("stairway to heaven"...stairs) and if it is, its done a good job. but what ive gotten from that quote is that maybe theyre reffering to autonomous v. manual control and that you can switch at any time, like the amount of time or when is up to you for using autonomous. i just thought id change the direction of thought in here. :D

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Completely original idea...I like it.

I have no idea if that's what FIRST has in store for us, but it would make for a very interesting game. Seems like human control would make a great "long road" to me...

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

"To" and "Heaven" are just as equally implied by the reference to "Stairway to Heaven" as the word "Stairway"...

I'd pay more attention to the reference to two roads and "time"...Especially with the time-dependence of the 10 ft/sec bit...

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Anyone notice the change of other materials? Now we only have a total of 5 2"x4"x8' and now 3 2"x12"x8'. Your thoughts on why this changed and if it is going to keep changing until kick-off?

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

I had been pushing for this kind of idea, with a multiplier for the amount of time in Autonomous, for a while now and I'm glad someone has found a way to tie it in with the new clues.

I hope you're right, I like this interpretation a lot better than the stairs :).

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

Whatever big wooden things are part of the field don't have to have casters to move. I'm picturing the large wooden stairs supported by some of the 2x8's where it would take alot of force to move them around the field, and the "vmax = 10f/s" is a reccomendation, in that you don't want a fast robot, you just want a really powerful robot that can move these stairs (or possibly ramps, just something to get your robot higher). Humans use stairs because we like to stand on horizontal surfaces, but anything that serves the same purpose - an increase in elevation - for wheeled things is a ramp (think handicapped access ramps) so this wood could be for ramps that are used to get over a barrier. The PVC would make a good barrier, because it could be used to make a wall that you coul see through, but would prevent passage below a certain height (lumber sticking up with holes drilled in it would hold up the pipe horizontally). In this case, the PVC would not have to take a beating, if you broke the PVC, you shouldn't have touched it in the same place.

Rambling ideas, but I think torque will be important, not speed.

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

I'm looking at the BOM, and I'm wondering is this for the TOTAL field? I'm sure FIRST realizes how many of us like to take what they give us and put it into every sitituation - but to throw us a curve ball - did they even include the player stations/player sheilding?!

I'm looking at this - and I can't even beging saying all the thoughts that I have. Could the two 12' pieces be for the middle of the field? Or be cut? Or even may be for someing that we aren't thinking of. I can't wait for this year to begin, I think FIRST has a suprise for ALL of us in store this year...:)

Re: Low Cost Field BOM
 

I have been doing alot of thought on this idea before i have posted anything. What i have come up with is that your idea of the multiple roads with the time referance is going to be more crucial then the stairways to heaven quote. I think that we may end in an auton state in which there are 2 doors opened. they both lead to the same position but one has more obsticles to get there in. I think the amount of time compared to route you take can act as a multiplier. This is just my thoughts but i think it seems relavent enough to post.
~Mike