Field Damage
 

The fields really stood up to quite a beating this season. The only time we noticed damage to the field on Archimedes was during the Quarterfinals 3-2 when 1138 slammed into the lexan side of the ramp trying to defend against 69 and they had snapped off a pretty big piece of the lexan that the field crew had to tape back on.

Did anyone on another other fields or at other regionals have problems with damaging the field?

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Galileo was really torn up by the end of the competition. I know the carpet was littered with pieces of tape patching up tears and, if I'm not mistaken, they even mentioned they weren't going to give that carpet away because of the damage. However, I didn't notice much other damage, besides stuff like streak marks on the ramp. Overall, I'd say the fields took the abuse well.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

I think the fields themselves are generally pretty strong, however, the game pieces from certain years (last years tetras, and the boxes from stack attack) were pretty suseptable to damage

Re: Damaging the Field
 

The fields held up better than I thought, but like previously mentioned, Galileo's carpet was pretty mangled. I remember a huge patch on the blue left starting position and black tape everywhere.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Both Philly and Trenton fields both lasted with just scratchs on the Lexan and Diamond Plate. I know in one case our robot in practice did a dukes of hazzard style jump off the ramp into the lexan a foot off the ground and no damage. Although... I think the team that was standing on the other side of the lexan was scared to death.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Anyone notice all the balls on Einstein were new?

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Galileo's ramp's side lexan shield was cracked badly at the end of practice day. They replaced it though.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

At VCU we managed to burn a quarter inch deep, inch long rut in the top of one of the ramps... stupid joysticks got their trims knocked, and the robot spent something like 10-15secs with one sides wheel slowly turning. (That's my only beef with CH flightsticks, trims is too easily changed. After that match, and one where I was driving and screwed up the trim, we added tape over the adjusters against a mentor's wishes. Not a single problem since)

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Yep. We started loading our robot, and noticed how none of them were as worn in as the test balls we had in our cart. And throughout Friday and Saturday, every ball on Galileo (w/ a few exceptions) were all red/blue, just like all of the Einstein ones.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

That's to be expected, no? Like in baseball -- if you make it to the show, you play with new equipment.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Thats one way to think about it.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Hi...

Did you also notice that all the colors matched too (blue and red)?

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Archimedes!

Great time working the field this weekend. Our field held up well, I think.
That cracked border really supprised me tho.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

Yup they specially ordered the red/blue for champs. And had a large amount of other colors in case of the red/blue left for the 4 divisions ran thin, but never went into the Einstein balls to make sure they were kept up to par and brand new for the finals.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

our team (wildstang) in our final match agains team 25 sat in wait for them to finish human loading with our brakes on boxing them into the close corner. they proceded to push us and broke free. Regardless we lost but a large chunk of the carpet was torn free and it took almost a 6th of the black carpet tape to replace it.

we got a number of disturbed looks from volunteers, judges, and referees. :yikes:

:confused: umm . . . good job mechanical team on those brakes :confused:

Re: Damaging the Field
 

On the Curie field we got a warning niot for pinning the robot (which i admit i was doing) but for burning up the carpet while i was pinning them. the carpet could be a better quality but all in all the Curie field held up extremely well

Re: Damaging the Field
 

there are always holes in the carpet near the 1 point goals. at palmetto i was out there with the gaff tape after almost every match taping up a hole. those polycarbonate sides of the ramp tend to snap right off as well. it may not be considered damage but the panel that goes over the gates comes off often i saw robots knocking those things off constantly. by far the worst damage this year was the balls. they loose the color get kinda fuzzy and end up missing chunks.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

At Cleavland, a rookie team's defensive robot did some serious lexan damage to the field. Can't remember the team number, sorry.

But anyhow, their robot was kind of like a little 5" tall bulldozer with a steel diamond plate blade. Their blade caught the edge of one of the lexan panels making up the fence running the length of the field. They had a four cim total drive system and some awesome tires, so... they got about half way down the field, chunking off every lexan panel as they went :yikes: . I was standing about 10' from the field when it happened.

All in all though, the field has been extremely durable this year, except, of course, the automatic scoring system. :p

-Q

Re: Damaging the Field
 

We were banging on the player station lexan before our first semifinal match on Galileo and knocked a wire above our team number sign into a bad position. Blair gave us a hard time, so the next time, we all just gently tapped our fingers on the lexan.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

As much as most of you wont believe it, most likely to save on cost, most if not all of the driverstation glass is actually acrylic and not polycarbonate (GE Lexan). I was amaized at this myself but it does explain the cracking over the last few years.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

The lesser material for the clear sides of the ramp would explain how our robot (1379) broke it off after colliding with another robot. We were trying to get a better scoring position, but the collision and poor visibility coupled with an excited driver sent the robot careening across the far end of the field :ahh: . This occured at the Peachtree Regional.

Re: Damaging the Field
 

All the balls being the same was, I heard, in order to garauntee similar poofiness/firmness of balls. I know 469 was talking about it thursday night becasuse when they loaded the robot, they had to switch where they pu balls initially because of difference in hardness on the balls...

Re: Damaging the Field
 

When the field was shipped to NY and put together, the field assemblers came across one of those lexan porders that go on the sides of the main ramp and it was well cut one foot in by the entire height, needless to say we had a new piece shipped express from FIRST to NY within a day and was replaced at the end of practice, however with as much tape as we put on it, it stood up real well to thursdays practice, i wish I could say the same for the carpet, the carpet had its battle scars but nothing we couldn't tape and give it away at the end of the competition =-). hey with a water competition next year who needs carpet just get a marble slab =-) nice and slick. ;-)