Amount of contact this year
 

Games in the past have had a varying amount of robot to robot contact, from little (the 2001 game) to a LOT (Zone Zeal)

My predictions for this year: there will be a lot of contact for teams that are planning to pick up the large balls. Since that ball has the potential to be worth 60+ points, it is natural that a team carrying it is a prime target of opportunity. Also, dislodging opponents from ball chutes might be another issue for contact.

Some on my team disagree. So I'd like to ask your opinions - how much contact do you think there is going to be between robots this year?

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

I think the amount of contact will be roughly equivilent to the amount of contact that there would have been in 2001 if it had been 2v2. That said, I'd say less than 2002 and probably more than last year.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

My guess is that because the game is so similar to the 2000 game there will be equivalent contact.

There will be some contact due to fighting over the big balls and some blocking from pushing small balls. But the main contact will be fighting over the bar.

There is much more to do this year than last year so I bet there will be far less contact.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

It could get pretty rough this year.
This may be the year you see a robot outright destroyed when it's knock off from the bar or tipped off the platform. Hopefully there won't be any hard feelings.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

The hits will be harder than any other year.
They will be higher up.
They will take place on stairs, on ramps, and 10 ft in the air.

There will be pushing, checking, smashing, bashing, flipping, clipping, and many more.

I expect to see robots reduced to twisted piles of aluminum. It happens.

Build accordingly.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

I like the new friendlier FIRST competions. :D It makes everything so life like. (I am being serious.) In a matter of three years the competions have (mainly due to stack attack.) become very vicous for the good of things. More contact means more problems, more problems mean more problem solving! And all that problem solving gives me a most enjoyable headache, that goes away especially if I solve that problem. Plus it is VERY fun to watch.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

I think that there will be a lot of tipping robots this year because many will have arms to grab various balls and hang on the bar, heightening their cg. Futhermore, if they do happen to try to steal or place large balls from/on goals, their opponents will be sure to try and prevent whatever they may be trying to do.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

Due to those hits, I don't think teams are designing mechanisms to lift themselves 10 full feet into the air. All they need to do is get off the platform.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

This is rather disturbing. Having just looked through the rules all over again, I realize that there are no rules against knocking robots from the bar or pushing them off of the platform, or tipping them over. This could turn out to be a blood , or machine oil, bath if FIRST doesn't put in some rules on intentional damage to robots.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

But getting 5+ feet off the floor will make you immune to smashing by many teams, making it a very good strategy. If you're 6" off the ground, you're going to take a real pounding.

Cory

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

The rules against this are implied.

This is the year of common sense, and gracious professionalism.

Teams are expected to play hard, and try to win... but as long as GP is forefront in everyones mind, there shouldn't be many problems.

I think the most important thing is that every robot is designed to "take it, get up, and keep on going".

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

does this mean it would be fine to ram a robot that was trying to attach to the bar so that it couldn't?

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

We are putting foam bumpers so we don't break all our opponents' machines. :D No seriosly, we are having them because we are going with a welded frame that we have never tried before and we want to protect our the mirror polished surface on the frame.

Announcer in the pits - "Attention all teams. Team 696 is looking for a cotton buffing wheel. If anyone has a buffing wheel please bring it to team 696."

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

I think you're refering to implied rules against tipping, which I totally agree with your statement. I think that teams (like in the 2000, 2002, and 2003 games) have the explicit but in this year the implied ability to try to remove your opponent from a scoring position. In this case, trying to take your opponent off of the bar. Maybe I'm mistaken in my assumption, but I'm sure it will happen at an event and then we'll get a ruling on it.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

This year we have those important large balls and all the small balls running around. Since these are very important I expect to see a lot of teams manipulating them. In 2001 you didn't have to worry about designing a grabber that would withstand high impacts and lots of pulling. This year should be a different story. I can see teams coming up with super strong grabbers or other means of holding the ball firmly and/or stealing it. I can also see these grabbers getting twisted into pretzels. I think this year is much more like 2000 in terms of contact because 2002/3 didn't require the same kind of extra mechanisms to accomlish the tasks while still being able to take a bit of a beating.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

Of course.

I meant rules against tipping and malicious damage.

Removing a robot from the hanging bar, seems to be a perfectly viable strategic move.

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

I think in autonomous while people are going after the bonus balls you will see some of the more interesting hits....

Re: Amount of contact this year
 

hold on, ARE we allowed to try to take the big balls from say, a robot who has a grip on the ball. like tearing it from their grip?