Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

Hmmmm... I'll have to see what I can work on... ;) In the meantime, everyone will just have to enjoy this random effort

And to contribute to the actual thread, while it was a tad frustrating watching our robot try to get up the ramp in stack attack, the multiple surface types was really cool, so I wouldn't mind seeing that again!

Heidi

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

Astro Turf or other similar "fake grass."

I really want to see real grass, now that would be a sight to see!

Say good bye to carpet burns and hello to grass stains! :rolleyes:

Carpet = Old, at least make it colorful, next year!

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

i'm still stuck on the whole corn thing... thats freaking awesome!
i think they should bring the corn back, it would be amazing :ahh:

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

corn wud definatly rock
like....wow
tunnels sounds good....and the camera nightvison screen is an awesome idea
i think FIRST sound allow air cannons
not that they wud ever.....but i think it wud be fun

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

I will enter a plea for sanity here. Specifically the sanity of rookies and volunteers. Waterproofing, suspensions, and other things necessitated by exotic surfaces will really be a problem for rookie teams. I think they have a hard enough time as it is even with a robot in a box. At the very least Andy and the others would have to develop other out of the box solutions for all these problems. Especially waterproofing. A 12V motorcycle battery being dropped in a puddle of water would be a ugly sight. As for corn... it'd be a nifty surface to work on, but look at what our teams are capable of with drivetrains. I can easily see teams peeling out and sending corn spraying over the entire arena.

However, astro turf would be neat. Or maybe rubber or the plastic flooring like they laid out at nationals in florida. More slippery HDPE ares would be interesting too.

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

here where i work, we have a surface made out of rubbery stuff, in a criss cross pattern. its nice on your feet and quite good. But i think it would be interesting for a floor.
I notice that 3 of hte suggestions involve water....
i'm going to refer to kevins post above for that


I do like the carpet though. Maybe something that will be more durable so we can build mega grippy wheels without risk of leaving rubber marks or anything. (you should see teh carpet in the only largish space we have available...)

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

I may have said this in a different thread already, but I would love to see something like Jello. You can't have too much traction without tearing up the field, and it would probably limit the speeds very well. Though, I can't see FIRST really enjoying the idea of pouring a new layer of jello before every match...

Another interesting idea would be to use grass or sod. More traction than carpet alone, but with the added hazard of the individual blades clogging up gearboxes.

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

What if you had an urban scenario kind of field, sort of suppose an office building or maybe a store where you have real life obstacles (desk or a shopping cart). I dont know how you would do it but it would be cool

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

@Kevin and Denman

As i stated before, the chances of FIRST using any form of water in a field is nill, hence the title "What surface do YOU Want to see?" Not "What surface will FIRST use next?" We could come up with a list with more than 100 problems a water field would represent. But while i wanted to stay with realistic surfaces, i wanted people to choose what they would want to compete on if they had the chance

That being said:
You bring up the point of rookie teams, sure it would present a problem to them to play on water, or on something that would require suspension, but what about the vet teams? Water and ice is something unknown any team, And while the Engineer mentors from GM, Chysler, and any other field(Except water craft :D) could apply there basic knowledge, do you think those engineers would have any better chance of building a working water based robot than a rookie team with some skill? It might be interesting to see how those vet teams do on something completely foreign to them :D

In any case, I never expected this thread to get so big and have so many views, Thanks everyone!

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

i think it wiold be cool to have tha playing felld of ice it would change things defonetly

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

well call me boring. but I just like the carpet.

so simple, and you dont have to make any special modifications, and it will still be simple to drive.

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

Water would be really cool, but a lot could go wrong. But considering that we'd all like to try and get some practise before going to a regional I think the only surface that could really work is carpet.

All that aside, my vote goes for ice, that would be AWESOME:D, and very doable too as regionals are held in arenas.

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

Something new is always fun, but not water it would simply be impractical. I would prefer carpet with obstacles, and multiple objectives.


Water its actually been done before using the ifi electronics:
(take a look at the pictures and you will know what I mean)
http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/arc...bot&topic_set=

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

as a little suggestion to throw out, the game would be pretty insane with 8 teams, an octagonal field, filled a foot and a half deep with packing/shipping popcorn. now that would be crazy.

Re: POLL: What surface do you want to see?
 

If you want to compete robots on a dirt field, go ahead. However, we got mentors and kids (More mentors though), that would think of something insidiously insanse that would be as fast a dirt track care but as quick(moves) as a dirt bike or 4-wheeler.

However, why we got to stay on the ground. Why not make a field that would make it a neccessity for a flying robot.(Not that one this year would not have been to insane given the game...)

Just some ideas.