The return of...
 

...for 2008. Any guesses?

Re: The return of...
 

...PepsiCo noting a sharp increase in sales of Mountain Dew around lunchtime on January 5th?

Re: The return of...
 

Tim! You think that's what Woodie meant about his stock market comment in Atlanta this past year? :yikes:
Brilliant!

Re: The return of...
 

... KOP wheels other than the AM FIRST wheels... (AndyMark seems to have a FIRST wheel sale on now.)

Re: The return of...
 

...A new and improved AM FIRST wheel with a stronger bearing holder (I hope FIRST doesn't abandon AndyMark's excellent design for Skyways wheels. AMs have so much more traction and are significantly cheaper to use) and a spur gear based KOP transmission

Re: The return of...
 

My dream: the return of the IFI breaker panel.

Likely reality: the same finicky rockwell distribution block :rolleyes:

Re: The return of...
 

Return of... Rnets?

Re: The return of...
 

... the eighteen gallon tote?

... the hanging bar? ... or the limbo bar?

... the teeter-totter?

... the hexagonal playing field?

(So many possibilities. :confused: )

Re: The return of...
 

... Nate Smith? ;)

Re: The return of...
 

I agree. The AM FIRST wheels were WAY better than any of the old Skyways.

Re: The return of...
 

This is sort of correct, but not exactly. Let's just say that I will be involved this year, but not in the way that many of you may be used to seeing me (at events.) If you look at my current location listed in my profile, there's not much in the way of events out here, unless I wanted to travel to Manchester. However, if you know about some of the other projects I have been involved with in past years, that should send you on the right track...

Re: The return of...
 

Do you guys think that the CMUCam2 will be there once again?

Re: The return of...
 

My guess is that if they were sticking with a camera route, they may opt for the newer CMUCam3 and (hopefully) more support for the camera. Though something makes me think the camera has seen its last days as the tech FIRST will be pushing.

Re: The return of...
 

The return of infrared sensors.

Re: The return of...
 

The return of a meaningful autonomous period.

-q

Re: The return of...
 

stress, headaches, fried cameras, and teaching freshmen and sophomores to program so the team has programmers once i'm gone...
but really--
the return of balls as game pieces

Re: The return of...
 

Hopefully not one which impacts the game too much ie 2006. In my opinion a mix between 2004 and 2005's would be perfect. Have something most teams can do with some effort (ie 2005's hitting down the hanging tetras) and a more difficult part which you need sensors to complete that releases your game pieces early to your alliance (ie 2004's 10 point ball releasing your side). I think the key to a meaningful autonomous is having options, a simple option and a more complex one.

Re: The return of...
 

Placebos! C'mon, who's with me?

Re: The return of...
 

Yes, i agree that a simple and difficult option for autonomous is a fantastic idea. Like how in 2006 you could go for a high goal or a floor goal.

Man our autonomous that year rocked... it was nice having someone on software that year that knew calculus... i'm guessing some people remember the beautiful blended curve path that our robot took to it's shooting position after finding the target from it's starting spot.

*sigh* ok maybe i'm just sore becasue we never got to use our autonomous mode this year... the ultrasonic radar+trig based autonomous was too complicated to finish in time. :o

-q

p.s. The return of an exciting and easy to understand game, that a walk-in spectator can understand and enjoy without any or much instruction.

Re: The return of...
 

Amen. I would really appreciate the simplicity and the weight savings again, but I think that it is indeed a likely reality that we are stuck with those awkward distribution blocks and heavy 40A breakers.

Even more likely reality is perhaps a completely new solution, again. Just because of the fact that for the first time last year we had a clean electronics panel and they wouldn't let us get away with that again with out redesigning the whole thing.

Re: The return of...
 

...the return of game pieces we can shoot into the crowd...

Re: The return of...
 

CHEERS!

Re: The return of...
 

I second that lol. I see balls coming back again as it continues its glory of being the game piece of every even year!

Re: The return of...
 

I doubt it. I think they got rid of them because they where shorting to the frame. When we where testing the camera in 2006 we kept having the battery short through it because the breaker panel was shorting to the frame which in tern shorted to the camera mount and then to something on the camera. Let me tell ya, it really stinks when sparks start shooting from your only available camera.

*Billowing Magic Smoke

Re: The return of...
 

They got rid of them because IFI was losing money selling them, and not very many people were buying them.

And then last year Rockwell donated the PDB.

Re: The return of...
 

anyone seeing mobile goals coming back?

Re: The return of...
 

The Jedi?

Re: The return of...
 

The Mack?

The King?

The Living Dead?

Re: The return of...
 

of bumpers.... but as a game piece!!

I see a big future for those noodles :rolleyes:



seriously though think about it.. they are:

• Cheap
• Easily obtainable
• Challenging to grasp
• Lightweight

if not 2008 I seriously believe we will be seeing them in 2009.... they are a perfect game piece for FIRST...

-Leav

p.s.
if this comes true I want my own corner like car nack.... :p

Re: The return of...
 

Not so much for us! (though that may have allot to do with the fact that its the middle of winter in Canada mixed with living in fairly rural community.)

Re: The return of...
 

lol us too!! us canadians would be at a slight disadvantage to those who can obtain pool noodles in the middle of winter lol.

Re: The return of...
 

Return of...Futurama?

Return of....the Soviet Union?

Re: The return of...
 

The Mummy

Re: The return of...
 

YES!!!!!

Finally, people who agree! The IFI breaker panel made things SO much cleaner, and easy to diagnose. I know, I know, it isn't as much of an educational experience, but.... CMON PLEASE?????? PRETTY PLEASE??? WITH SUGAR ON TOP??????

-:o-

Now that I've settled down, I'll be quiet. But seriously FIRST (and I'll direct this at Dave, because he probably has the most influence), if you're looking for a great christmas/holiday present to me, and many other people who wire their robots, please bring back the IFI breaker panel. You don't even have to send me one. I already have one. I just want to be able to use it.


Thanks in advance Dave ;) ,
Jacob

Re: The return of...
 

lol no kidding, it would make things easier for sure!!!

Re: The return of...
 

....the King? (No not Elvis)





....4 vs. 0

Re: The return of...
 

Don't get your hopes up. While I'd love to see it back, I'd put my guess of the chance of it returning at somewhere below 1% (I'd say zero... but as soon as you start making guarantees you inevitably look foolish ;))

Re: The return of...
 

I would prefer it stayed as 3v3 to tell the true, so much more adrealine when your competition is right in front of your face, "bumping" into your bot

Re: The return of...
 

Robots?

I would also like the IFI breaker panel to make a return in this years kit of parts.

Re: The return of...
 

80 hours of robots each week

Re: The return of...
 

just 80? :p

Re: The return of...
 

Would much appreciate. I think the problem is the number of teams at an event though. Only having 4 on the field at once would take 150% of the time.

How about 6 vs. 0? or 8 vs. 0?

Jacob

Re: The return of...
 

You weren't around in 2001, were you? If you think finals already take too long, try that competition format and see how you like it. (2001 was one of the least liked games, period.)

Re: The return of...
 

In 2001 only four alliances fought for victory in the elimination bracket. :p

Fun Fact: In order to facilitate this, the 5th through 8th seeds were automatically paired with the 1st through 4th in reverse order (ie 1 with 8, 2 with 7 etc.)

How about the return of the "old style" (aka not serpentine) draft?

Re: The return of...
 

It still took forever. Eight matches per semi-final, and four for the finals. Up to another two per set of matches, as I recall (though I don't remember exactly what happened if there was a tie).

Re: The return of...
 

yeah... i would like to keep it at the 3 vs. 3 format... just b/c i like the competition. and i like the way the elimination draft is set up now... it give more of a chance to the lower seeded alliances, instead of it basically being up to the number one seed to lose it.

Re: The return of...
 

While they played more matches per matchup, I don't see how it could've taken that much longer. In 2001, each matchup could play no more than 6 matches, if they got to six, then the alliance with the higher average score moved on. This means that a total of 18 2 minute matches could be played. The tournament structure of the last few years consists of 7 matchups, requiring at most 21 2 minutes and change bouts. Even if each match was a blowout, the present format would take longer.

In their shortest forms, the 2001 tourney would've had 12 matches lasting 2 minutes each, while the last few years would've had 14 matches each lasting slightly longer than 2 minutes.

I didn't got to any tournaments back then though, so I wouldn't know about how the tournaments ran. Did the game just take a long time to reset?

http://www.technokats.org/documents/...GameManual.pdf

Re: The return of...
 

Let's see--balance the bridge, move small and large balls to the other side of the field, empty the goals and position them, as well as moving robots on at one end (ideally, the end robots were already in from the last round...). Yeah, it could take a while.

Re: The return of...
 

i was there too... it definently took a while... and FIRST had to accomidate for a lot less teams

Re: The return of...
 

4v0 sucked. I'd hate to see another game with any amount of teams vs 0.

Re: The return of...
 

I agree! I would find 3v3 more of a challenge, because it becomes a variable as to how your going to play. 4 v 0 you could play the same way every single match once you got it down, but 3v3 you have to change slightly each time to account for the different robots your facing

3v3 or something like it (x vs. x) is the best!

Re: The return of...
 

When you're vs. any human element you add the excruciatingly mind-boggling concept of pure utter randomness into the playing field. It's so random it's worse than chess sometimes and you really just need a bit of luck to capitalize and hope you're in the right position at the right time.

Playing chess against yourself gets rather boring, for bot the crowd and the player(s).

Re: The return of...
 

the return of? is this not the first time they have been used in the competiton (actually i would't be the one to know, 2007 was my rookie year :yikes: )


:]

Re: The return of...
 

IR beacons were available in the 2004 game as navigational aids (they had mucho problems though)

Re: The return of...
 

The return of...

Steps

Re: The return of...
 

What is absolutely scary here is that i had an actual dream (as opposed to a fake dream) where the game involved picking up pool noodles and doing something with them. I actually thought of the same things and said to myself that it'd be incredibly scary if they were the game element.