Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Good plan! You know how twitchy we get without our naps, Jon.

I also vote for the legalization of Magic to complete our bots, and potions to heal their wounds. Common decency.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Would the amber-colored polycarbonate be used to protect a lens or stabilize light in some way, regardless of the lighting conditions presented in different venues?

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

While Lexan does block 99% of UV light, it is not likely to be used that way, since the location of the house lights are radically different in each location (unless, ofcourse, it is to be mounted on the camera).

It could be used in lighting effects as it has some interesting properties when light is injected into it ... but for these effects to be seen the field lights would need to be dimmed.

I think Jane is starting to ask the right questions though. From a materials property point of view, why would the GDC use a non-standard sized, molded (or bent) piece of smoked polycarbonate? What benefits (over AL or steel) would justify its use?

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Let me clarify and then we can move on.

I wasn't pointing at this as to be some kind of bad habit of the team as a whole. It was always that one or two kids that were always goofing off that suggested the "Iron curtain". It made much more sense to show that person(s) Gracious Professionalism as a reason we couldn't do that kind of robot then it would be to drag out the rule book and point to a rule. We always tried to get the point of FIRST to all our team members, and that was one way we did it.

You are right though, there have always been sloppy process in brainstorming/designing. I can't tell you the amount of times someone proposed an idea and the Rule Expert of the team said "We can't do that, it violates this rule", rather then everyone knowing/searching the rules. We just never changed that kind of behavior because we still got along without.

@ Jamie_1930
Please stop complaining. You had the resources. Rob, Alex, Liz, and all the other mentors that gave just as much to keep the team alive were your experience that you claim 1930 lacked. You're right, we didn't have the kind of school support or money to make ourselves a top-tier FIRST team, but with the other Liz, myself and the artistic team we found ourselves with an Imagery award, which some - not all, but some - team members passed off as a joke. There was nothing wrong with 1930, its resources, it's students, it's mentors, it's school, or level of experience. We just didn't make it all the way. Other rookie teams have made off even better then us. It's not a fault in the system, it's just how things work out sometimes.

As for brainstorming/designing, listen to Dave. He's actually right.

EDIT: If you want to complain at me for saying this, do so in a PM, not in this thread.

@ Everyone else
I apologize for my derailing of this thread. Let us continue with the topic at hand.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Well,from first glance their must be a reason to see through it. Is it going to be part of the field? or off tothe side. In my opinoin, it must be obstructing someones view at a close distance. (similar to last year how the outpost was clear). It may sound dumb, but it's just a thought :)

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

If you will note Dave's picture and the Boxcar Willie Overpass.
He may be adding to the game hint.

http://www.texasescapes.com/DEPARTME...xcarWillie.htm

" But my favorite part of this procedure, is the approach we take when finalizing our instructions. It's almost always concluded with, "If you get to 'such-in-such', you've gone too far." "

Also:
My favorite ritual in our county, though, is giving directions to visitors and guests. None of us really know the name of streets or roads, we just know that there are usually two ways to get anywhere.
This may connect with the idea stated in Dave's "Morse Code": "Nothing Is As/What It Appears to Be What Is".

Additionally, the pseudonym "Boxcar Willie" aka Lecil Travis Martin. Martin, who was once sitting at a railroad crossing and a fellow that closely resembled his chief boom operator, Willie Wilson, passed by sitting in a boxcar. He said, "There goes Willie." He pulled over and wrote a song entitled "Boxcar Willie". (wikipedia)

We may have to pull game pieces from a track mechanism, or place them on it. Robots may be able to move the game pieces back and forth. There may be an endgame where robots will have to choose between a final position (hanging in 2004), or moving the pieces on a track to gain further points.

The Lexan piece may be a divider on the track or tracks that awards points to the alliance who can adjust its position successfully.

IMHO, this is fun but frivolous speculation to get us to warm up our brains for the upcoming challenge of the next six weeks.

Happy New Year! Blue Moon on New Years Eve. Cool Universe indeed.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

now look at the picture from a different perspective, what if that is a scaled model of the field! That would also make sense about the overpass post because of that giant overpass in the middle! maybe the holes that you see are scoring positions. I found that the ratio between the length and the width of the hint was ~.57. This could a representation of the field because the ratio for the field every year is .5. Just some food for thought.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

To go along with what Dave said, NO. The animation does not supplement reading the game manual. Every year there is at least one flaw in the animation with regard to the rules. In 2008 there were multiply points were a robot went above 6ft in the opponents homezone. This rule was taken out bye the GDC soon after kickoff. As for 2009 I believe there was a mistake but I can't remember it. Lesson, READ THE RULES and do it as close to kickoff as you can. Our team has a policy, no brainstorming until after the entire team has read through the rules and completely understands them. Imagine how much time your team can save if you read through the manual and then design. You wouldn't be spending time figuring out a robot that holds four empty cells and covers the trailer behind you. If you read the rules you would see, both ideas are illegal move on.

The animation allows us to visualize the game. The manual allows us to play the game legally. Know both.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

so, we know "nothing is what it appears to be" and that the game MIGHT be abou "going green" and all that stuff. ALSO this year, teams will be getting DartFish vision software. So, the picture lets us "see" the game, but nothing is what it appears to be, so its not a picture that we got as a hint, its actually saying we CAN'T see the feild. Now the other stuff, highly reliant on the robot's vision system (yes i know we dont have enough bandwidth to do this, but with the new system, we theoretically should be able to with almost no issue)would make it difficult to see broad areas of the feild. This would be EXTREEMLY hard if there were small parts all over the feild that we had to pick up, and organize into bins of some sort.......

just a thought

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

If it's a scale model of the field, that's a GIANT piece of lexan that doesn't really seem to have that much point or justification for being made out of lexan

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

that would be...

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Back to the game ‘theme’ for a second, here are a few historical anniversaries for 2010:
400 years ago:
Galileo discovers Jupiter’s 4 largest moons and observes Saturn’s Rings
125 years ago:
the roller coaster is patented by LaMarcus Thompson
100 years ago:
Ray Bradbury is born, 1st airplane flight from the deck of a ship, New York’s Penn Station opens as world’s largest
75 years ago:
the spectrometer is patented by Arthur Hardy, Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Pacific, first demonstration of RADAR by Scottsman Robert Watson-Watt
50 years ago:
LASER patented by Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes, US launches first weather satellite, Navy bathyscaphe ‘Trieste’ descends to deepest point in the Pacific, Hoover Dam is completed, first Playboy club opens in Chicago
25 years ago:
Coca-Cola changes the secret formula for Coke, then changes it back 3 months later

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

Not really the same formula. They wanted to change from sugar to corn syrup so this is how they kept you from tasting the difference. Cain sugar tastes better to me.

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

I get a chuckle out of this whole guessing game. That's probably why I keep doing it.....

What if this is actually a KOP component this year, much like the game pieces have been in years past?

125 years ago:
the roller coaster is patented by LaMarcus Thompson

Train systems / light rail / mass transit is quite "green", and frankly that thing in the picture reminds me of a mass-transit elevated rail.

Perhaps this will be less about the actual game pieces on that device, and more about a small electric cart with scoring locations running around on an elevated rail system :)

Re: [BB] 2010 Game Hint #1
 

of course, tracks!