How many of you build your own field?
 

Just curious...this spurns off of something Nate said about the MI forum, and Im wondering if this is a nation-wide thing.

I believe it's WORLD-wide... :D :D :D
We built a full field, using some pipes from 2000's field (try not noticing the previously red goal pipes turned into a center barrier :))
We did have some problems with the bridge, concerning metric measurements - sometimes we had to glue two or three layers of wood together to meet the specifications, in inches.
Oh, and we did not use any acrylic or diamond plate, so our alliance station was kinda bare naked... :)

'

rambots really dont fit into any of those categories...

we have neither the money nor the space to build the whole field. so we just build the centerpieces

we build pathetic mock ups of the important parts of the centerpieces. like we built half of the base of the goal out of plywood, and a small section of the bar thingy out of the same

Oops :eek: Sorry.

Speaking of Brazil, I wanted to say that when I graduated this year my good friend Henry sang the national anthem at practice.....once it was over, i nudged my friend Jen in front of me & said "Ok, now Im ready for the Brazilian anthem" (which, by the way, she loves). She went nuts right there...and recieved quite a number of stares from all the people around us who had never heard the thing.

Have a good one

Field build
 

Depending on the game we build as much filed as our space will allow. Most of the time we have a field that is 75% size.

Hopefully FIRST will keep using the Kee Klamp parts. It saves cash because we can re-cycle the old field parts.

The area we have to put our field is only about a quarter of the size of the actaul field so we just build the centerpieces and such.

I don't see the poll option for teams that don't build any part of a field and have no teams within a 2 hour drive.... anyway.... our team didn't have the funding to build any parts of the field. Basically, our field consisted of two barrels on top of each other which resembled a goal. In retrospect, having the essential parts of a playing field are extremely important, as our team decided not to do anything with the ramp because we had no way to test our design if we were to go in that direction. Lesson learned: build essential parts at all costs (or use another team's if you have teams nearby)

Patrick

Every Year we build a whole field, we are Lucky enough to have a sponser (Gillette, I'v got to plug the name at some point) with the funds to alow us to build the whole thing, but I have the utmost respect for the Teams with great robot without one.

Team #292 voted: No, all we build is the centerpieces. However, we could have voted: NO, but we know a very nice team that lets use their stuff. Team #45 has been a tremendous help in the forming and operation of our team. They build a complete field and allows our team to use it whenever they have the building open. Team #292 thanks Team #45 for all of their assistance.

Your help is appreciated also.
 

Joe,

You left out the fact that your team (292) helps us build all the components of the field. Sometimes, there are even more students from 292 who help build compared to students from team 45.

The effort your team makes a huge difference, and it would take much longer to build the field without your team's generosity.

I'm sure that we will need your help again this coming year!

Andy B.

Team 535 (aka Rookie Team) built a full field and all the extra equipment therein (both goals and stretcher) to spec.
The only thing we changed was to have only one wall of plexiglass for the drivers. The other wall is solid plywood.
It took a long time to build, with all the changes that kept appearing. We had a dedicated team of students that were more than up to the task.

Wayne D.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

I see that everyone that cannot build a whole field is just acting like the center peice is the holy graile maybe we shouldn't focus all are attention on that

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We plan on/have built the center piece, one regular goal, one vision tetra, and three regular tetra's. ;)

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

This was for the 2001 competition. Although I was not there, I think I can assume that in that game, the centerpiece was more important that it is in the 2005 game, when it is just another way to score.

My team plans on making a vision tetra of each color, a normal tetra of each color, an automatic loading station, a normal goal and a mock up of the center goal using various pieces (come on, who wants to pay $125 for the center goal?).

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We just build the center pieces, however Dana's Tech Fusion gives us access to the field they build for final testing. Which of course is extremely nice of them.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

So Far we have built one of the small goals and 2 tetras, we are waiting on some clover pieces to build the center goal and a few more tetras. thats all we need.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We are lucky to have some extra space now and have built a full size field the last few years. (plywood is a good substitute for most field parts) Previous to that, we built to the size we occupied.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We build only the game parts that are important to us and try to dismaly mock up the rest with saying " you see that thingy hanging from the ceiling... thats what you have to shoot over... better start practicing... oh and aim for the rubbish bin, just pretend its 5 foot hight...."

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We only have the space to build half the field, so we have five of the regular tetrahedron goals, plus the center piece, and lots of scoring tetras. It works perfectly for brainstorming, prototyping, and practicing.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

My team makes a half playing field. But this only just started this year for 1 reason, (1) We didnt have the space! But I feel as though building a field makes the team way effective.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

we dont have the space to hold a field-- in the past we just built certain elements and often times we really didnt' need them-- this year before the game came out we thought to only build the parts we truly need--so first comes the strategy we want then build the parts we need

last year though our sister team 179 did have pretty much a whole field so we went to visit them to practice once--thanks guys again for that

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We've only had the space and funding to build a full field once in my three years on 818; we did that in 2003, and most likely because the other GM teams offered materials and aid in building it in exchange for sharing use of it.

We were on our own last year and will be again this season, so we build a smaller and cheaper mockup of it. Last year, we just built the central platform and one of the moveable goals; this year, I think we're going to build a few goals and some tetras to go with it.

To the best of my knowledge, we've NEVER built player stations before. Only the field elements that the robot will be interacting with.

Having the money and time to have a full field would be nice, but it's a luxury we can do without. :)

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

WE built a whole feild in 2003, which was very nice. But last year, we only built half of the center strctuer and two mobile goals, but that really all you need. I guess ity would be nice to use a who.le feild, but i think thats kinda what practice matches are for.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We only build the critical field elements and have some scrap rug for a sample field surface. The problem is we don't have the room for an entire field. Last year we set up the bar and platform in the gym to test our shimmy mechanism, but every night we had to move it all back into storage. Setting up and breaking down the field elements takes up a bit of our meeting time.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We don't have room for a whole, or even half feild, since we work out of a computer lab. We do out best, however, to either get or make a replica of whatever the robot need to handle, like the tetras this year and some goals.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

Thats sounds like US! ! !

we have built 4 tetras
center goal
2 side goals

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

Yeah, we generally lay out the dimensions of the field, so we know how much space we have to work in and to get a feel for it. We build at least one of each of the elements (i.e. this year: auto loader, center goal, side goal, vision tetra) and then a bunch of the small tetras. This way we can check out all of the functions and issues etc. that we need to address. And if we are going to have a scrimmage this year with a few local teams, then we will build some more components for the field.

A tip to those teams that can't find enough PVC end caps or other parts: order your parts early. This seems to work out less problematically than going out on the day of/after kickoff and trying to find all of the necessary things.

Good luck to all teams out there, regardless of whether you have a full field, or very little to work with!

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

So far we've built one tetra, a regular goal, and the tetra loader.

Last year we built a few peices, but this year the place we kept them is used for storage for the college. Usually we went out to the loby of the building to practice on carpet... (Robot! Fetch that undergrad!!!)

We also went down to 121 (madd props!!) last year, and they had an awesome field.. I don't remember if it was full sized or not.

But on the subject... does anyone know why the placed new drawings for the loaders? The changes aren't huge.. but we had already built ours.. :/

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

In San Diego, we're fortunate enough to have a really great relationship between all of the schools. We pool our money and build one full playing field that is for use by all of the teams. Then, each team builds game pieces for their own modeling use.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

This year, we have 2 of the 5ft tetras, around 10+/- baby tetras, and 4 loading stations. We did not widen the field we just lined up the two 5ft tetras the right distances from the side of the field... so you could say we technically have around a quarter of a field. For what we do with the field it should work out pretty well for us...see ya all at a regional or nats where we all play on a big field! :D

-kyle

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

Our team's sponser rented out a abandoned store for our testing location this year that's by a laser tag arena, but when we were laying out the field, there was only a half foot distance between the edge of the field and the wall. There was also no human player room or drive station room, so our highschool leader downsized the field a bit so we could have room to work.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We're building our own complete field, goals, loading zones and all, generously supported by GM Canada :D
In fact we're giving out our Triple Play Game Field to any other teams who are willing to drive down to Mississauga (Greater Toronto Region) to use, especially for teams that cannot build their own or have no access to a field to test their robot once completed.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We build a full-size field each year with as many elements as we can. Anyone wishing to practice on our field is always welcome - just call one of us ahead of time so we can open up the building for you. :D

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We build a full field each year. The Navy is nice enough to give us a warehouse to use and the materials needed to build the field. We look forward to team 1350 coming to practice with us again this year.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We built the field because we are going to have a pre season practice with other teams.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

We built three scoring tetras , one of the small goals, a big goal, and the loading station. We really dont have space for the rest cuz we work out of the back of an engineering classroom at our school, meaning we have to fit all our stuff in a corner.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

I had to say the full field because we built 3/4 of a field. one whole side and the other was like half of it's size. The most challenging part was putting the carpeting down but fabricating the center goal corner goals and platforms was easy

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

Whoa... a poll from last year. Anyway, this year we built 1/3 of the field (1 center goal, and 1 lower goal)

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

I wish... we made a ramp to check out how our robot will go up it and a side goal ramp for human player practice. Other than that, our center goal was a circle marked on the wall.

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

we planned to build some stuff, but ran out of time and room. testing was done with someone (me) holding up a center goal circle at the correct height. We built a half-width corner goal, and we used 1560's ramp for testing (they build a full half field) btw, Thanks 1560!

Re: How many of you build your own field?
 

A poll from 2001 actually. Anyways, we just built the center goal and corners. Which is all there really is.;)