Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I think simply scoring point is easier than the past; all teams will be capable of scoring, and a respectable amount of points too (I don't expect any 3-0 matches this year as is often the case in regionals ridden with broken or malfunctioning machines). This is probably the biggest draw for me of this game, it's almost impossible to have an extremely low scoring match.

That said, scoring ALOT of points will be difficult. The average team will probably not be able to break the 20 point mark with their robot alone (2 laps with a hurdler or 5 with a herder are no small tasks), and doing anything beyond driving across the first line in hybrid mode will require some thought by programmers and coordination among the alliance so as not to crash into each other.

The GDC also threw in an interesting twist to the alliance strategy this year; there aren't enough game pieces for all 3 robots to complete the "high" scoring method simultaneously. Thinking through games, I don't know a game in the 2000's that had less of any scoring object than robots on an alliance (maybe an argument for 2001, where there were only 2 mobile goals...). If all the "powerhouse" teams at a Regional decide that hurdling is the way to go, it gives a chance for a rookie or black-horse team that avoids hurdling to really be the deciding factor in the playoffs.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I will take that bet any time.

This game is very rookie friendly. An all rookie alliance can easily be seen this year as a good one.

i love the game, it has many things to think about when designing your robot. I bet we will see a lot of good bots that break during matches as they werent buff enough.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

My feeling about this year's game is that running laps won't be as easy as everyone thinks. Six robots and four balls in the field area will not leave much room for manuvering. I feel there will be traffic jams galore trying to move around the field let alone a robot carrying/pushing one of those balls.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

Can you say "Talledega wipeout" !

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

An engineering design term just popped into my head that might describe this challenge.

This years game has a lot of "dynamic range". One end of the scale better accommodates rookies. The other end of the scale can really stretch the limits of experienced teams.

I'd give this game about 112 db worth of dynamic range.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

The only thing that will bew hard about this game is not the new hybrid mode but hurdling the 10 pound huge ball without tipping over.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

This year's game poses some new challenges to teams like hurdling those gigantic balls..

On the other hand, it proposes relatively easy solutions to teams like building a carting robot which only makes laps.

The hybrid mode is more encouraging then the previous year autonomous.

All in all, I think as Woodie Flowers wanted - this is the other side of the complexity but it's not about simplicity.

:)

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I love the game this year. Racing around with 40" 10lbs ball sounds like fun. The robot design is not that difficult. TRX-145 is good at making fast strong robots. Here's to a fun game, hope everyone feels the same.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I think after a while it's going to be boring going around a track 8 million times, i think if defese could have been played it would have been better

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

Depending on who you ask, you'll find different answers to this question. Some will say the game is the most difficult thing they've ever seen. Others will say it's incredibly simple. This can only mean one thing: the game isn't difficult or easy. It's complex.
Think about it.
To those who have said the game is "simple" or "easy," I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying be cautious. Until the regional competitions, we've only seen the cover of the book.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

The simplest way to score in this game would be to mount a bike tire horizontally on the front right corner of your robot. Your code would be as simple as "GO" and you would bounce around the outside wall.

For some reason my team didn't choose that for the final design.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I've said this before, while I will admit that hurdling that 10 pound track ball will be difficult, and racing around the field might be exciting, I think FIRST took us backwards as far as actual robotics is concerned. You can read my post here to hear all about how I feel about the lack of autonomous. In short, I don't find hybrid mode challenging at all and I think its just an excuse to make the game more exciting for outside spectators, at the cost of autonomous ingenuity.

Mike C.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

If you think hybrid mode is less challenging than full autonomous, it sounds like you think teams will be teleoperating their robots using TV clickers instead of joysticks. There might be a few teams who try that, but they'll quickly find that interference and limited range are very big factors.

I believe that teams traditionally known for good automodes should do very well this year.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I actually don't think that will be what teams do. The reason I find hybrid mode less challenging is because instead of the robot having to do some work and find the trackball itself, the robocoach can tell the robot exactly where the trackball is, with no need for external sensors besides the IR sensor. All that is required of the robot is a few consistent preprogrammed dead reckoning paths to each of the trackball positions, and maybe a bit of dead reckoning around the track after that. This is no where near as complicated as the 2005 autonomous mode where robots had to find the tetras on their own out of 8 positions (which, granted, very few teams accomplished, but it was the first year for the CMU cam). And aside from hybrid mode, the lack of an advantage to semi-autonomous control in the teleoperate mode (unlike 2006 where many robots were successful by aiming completely on their own) seems to me to be another step in the opposite direction. If this is the direction FIRST is going, I definitely don't like it.

Re: How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?
 

I fully agree with you.

Interesting on our team some really like this game and some don't, just like these threads.

Personally I think it is a great game and plays into 1902's strengths. I love doing autonomous and this year is a great autonomous mode with the hybrid. Done right it is very challenging.