Re: 2007 game field...
 

Well yea, but of course if they make a game with water I'm pretty sure they will be alot more serious when the jeduges look at the robots and evaluate them making sure they are completely safe. There should be not a single chance of error with a game with water :)

Re: 2007 game field...
 

We could make amphibious robots! :D

I always wanted an anphibious rc car. :(

Re: 2007 game field...
 

We should have mailboxes so that the challenge could be to make the robots get the mail and bring it to the 'house'. Then after that the most successful robots can be patented, sold, and make loads of money for the builders!!!

I bet that would really bring the heat in competition and make very interesting! :D

Re: 2007 game field...
 

I think it would be cool to have marbles as game pieces. It would be unique because you'd pretty much have to treat it as a fluid and it would lead to some interesting concepts. Think about instead of scoring a large game piece, filling up an object with marbles and depending on how full it is that's what you are scored on? How would you collect something less than an inch off the ground?


Everything abot this idea is pretty cool but there's one reason why I can thing it won't happen... marbles are slippery... and they get everywhere... Imagine these little things getting all over the pits, and then at random you see people go airborne, carrying things... Yeah...

It would still be pretty cool though.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

Instead of the carpet, have the playing field sand.

Would make for some interesting pushing matches :ahh:

Re: 2007 game field...
 

I think a security robot would be cool to develop. At Motorola we need escorts to and from the playing field. A security robot as an escort would make things loads more efficient.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

I have something not listed in the poll: EM or audio spectrum based objectives. Like laser tag with robots! Imagine the savings with something like that. Instead of spending money on pieces like balls and tetras, you could build emitters and sensors. Though the items would cost more, you wouldn't need as many.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

i think that maybe they will have 2 playing fields of different shape to make teams have to make their autonomous modes adaptive to the field.

also having a field other than carpet would be interesting. perhaps cceramic tile slicked with oil? how about ice?

also working with bizarre materials like dry ice might be interesting

not jello but maybe pudding or pie filling

Re: 2007 game field...
 

Think about safety hazards with dry ice. I’m gunna say no...
The mess pudding and jello and pie filling and oil would make is enormous. I’m gunna say no...
Ceramic tiles would break every now and then and would be a pain to set up. Again I’m gunna say no...

But i do like the idea of an oddly shaped field. Also a new surface to play on would be great, something more like wood panels, or diamond plate (they use enough of it already) or even HDPE for the entire field.

Also I would like to see another game where teams are al on the same alliance like in 2001, that would get rid of allot of this we need to be super defensive stuff.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

How about a new field element? I say they go with a bridge, and change the height limit so that robots can fit underneath it. That would certainly throw off everyone being used to the standard 60" limit. There'd just be the problem of preventing one robot falling onto another...

A new field texture would be nice, but it would have to be something with similar conveniences to carpet (namely it can be rolled up for easy transportation, and would require little more assembly then the current sticking carpet to the ground needs). Plastic tile sheets might work, except for the problem of falling robots potentially cracking it.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

The bridge is intriguing, but why change the height limit? Give the teams some advantage in going under a 24-inch bridge, but including a scoring element that is eight feet high (or 20 feet high). The FIRST GDC needs to keep pushing us!

Re: 2007 game field...
 

I really like that idea! There was one game like that...2002 maybe (I wasn't in it then) that they had a low bar (2-3 feet high) through the middle of the field. I do remember seeing a picture of a robot that collapsed all the way down, slid under and "decompressed" on the other side.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

I still like the fan idea and you can use the wind to move yourself around. What if we had to sail? No way its happening, waters out of the question for now, ditto with ice, but cool.

Bridge would be cool, but what if it were one of those draw bridges, or the randomly move in multiple directions so where you were going isn't anymore. That would be really cool.

Sand is kind of out of the picture, and marbles would be cool but no. What if we had to play on lexan????

Re: 2007 game field...
 

That would be cool, but I don't think FIRST would do it because falling robots could crack an entirely lexan field (and don't say lexan won't crack, it happened at the AZ Regional in 2004 and took a good 15-20 minutes to repair). Moving field elements would be very interesting to deal with, but I don't think it's feasible due to the delays that could occur from broken field pieces.

Good point on the not changing height limits, this would force teams to prioritize what they wanted to go for; I think GDC should try to design one of the future games so that it is almost impossible to design a robot that can do everything.

I remember a team doing that as well, it was in 2003 (Stack Attack, there was a low bar on each side of the field next to the gigantic ramp). The team's autonomous mode was to actually drive in reverse and push their opponent into a wall.

On the bridge note; what if you get points for having a robot under the bridge at the end of a match? Or going under gave you a direct route across the field, where as the bridge would take longer? Then put in a high target as has been said, so teams that don't go the short route have their own advantage.

Re: 2007 game field...
 

That's interesting. The scoring things are all in the other Alliance's end (or at least the key component that allows bonus points -- like making 3-across patterns in '05), and there are three ways to get there: a 5-degree ramp leads to a bridge that turns left and goes across the arena to a right-hand turn down a 5-degree ramp on the other side. At both extreme sides of the arena is a 30-degree ramp that goes up to a 40-inch square platform and then down again on the other side. Under the bridge formed by the 10-degree ramp bridge is the "underpass" to the other side that is only 24 inches high.

Simple bots can climb the shallow ramp, turn across the bridge, and then go down the other side. It's not hard, but it is slow. Better bots can take advantage of the 30-degree ramps to go over, but there are only two of them, they are all they way on the outside edges of the field, and they are steep. Really creative bots can zip straight through under the wide bridge in the center. This gives a real challenge to teams that want one, but doesn't make the game impossible for BLTs.

Now, as for the actual game, I don't have any idea except that it should involve either helicopters, boats, or bobsleds...