Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

some hooks hanging from ceiling that can move to the crowd (it will be intresting). the purpose is hang mini 'bots on the hooks.
the mini 'bots will be a robot the size of 15x15 inch that will drive randomly autonomously.every time a mini 'bot is hanged on the hooks, the hooks will go down so the mini 'bots can return to game. there is a problem how the mini 'bots don't get dameged but I sure FIRST will have a solution.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

It would be interesting to build a robot that needed to cross gaps and help other robots that lack this ability to get across, but that is more of a game element than an actual game.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

That sounds like fun...but I don't know that the venues will appreciate us installing hooks on their ceilings D:

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

The hooks idea I wrote was bad but I think the mini 'bots idea is great and can be in any game idea.
I think 2 mini 'bots per 6 robots is the best fit.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

They could probably do a pretty simple "fake" ceiling, like hanging hooks from 2008-like Overpasses, or maybe slightly higher.

I'd wonder about the price of autonomous bots, though. With the expense of the trackballs ('08) and regolith ('09), and the difficulty getting orbit balls ('09), it seems like FIRST is leaning towards standard/readily available/easyish to make and easy to repair/replace. Two alliances vying to control two minibots would definitely take their toll, probably even faster than the orbit balls needed fixing (and almost certainly more difficult). Maybe take the changing shape and CG of beanbags rather than actual robots?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe the Mini bots can be:
1. slightly modified Roomba's. That is commercially available, but relatively expensive compared to track/orbit/poof balls. They also have some experience on the field!

2. Non-autonomous RC cars or similar. Maybe the Human players will control the opposing alliances' cars. Any generic car will do for practice, but one modified for the action of 60+ matches will be used officially.


Also, the hooks don't seem like that bad of an idea. Like Siri said, the idea of 08's overpass can be made into a pseudo-ceiling. That seems like an interesting element of the game, combined with the minibots.


I still see a Corn/Farm/20th Anniversary themed game.

Maybe even a variation of the tethered bots. like, if your robot strays too far from a set point, the robot will have to return within a set time.

Or even, The MiniBots are tethered and the size of Maize Craze Bots!

Possibilities...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Hmm, scoring elements driving away from your robot? What an evil idea :cool:

Actually, it could make for a very fun game. Imagine something like rounding up a bunch of cattle. Let's add a 2nd human player and have each alliance have 6 mini-bots (each controlled by a single HP). The goal of the big bots is to keep the opposing alliance's mini-bots inside a scoring area. Get a point every time a mini-bot enters the scoring area, multiplier for all bots in at the end. Perhaps to shake things up at endgame the scoring areas are switched and all of the bots need to be herded to the other side for the bonus. No idea what autonomous would be.

Plus, imagine the reaction from the Human Player when a bot picks up his mini-bot :D

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

This would make for interesting strategy, since the goal isn't actually to keep the mini-bots inside, but to keep them crossing the line. Still don't know how it could work from a cost standpoint, but it's an interesting gedankenexperiment.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I like the idea of the human player that is driving in the minibot but...
I don't know how the FMS will work with more than 6 robots (in Israel it didn't worked with 6 robots(I hope to know that the problem was the router it self, but we don't know till now)).

The minibots should me autonomous to keep the game not crowded.
The purpose of the minibots is to make the game more difficult equally(the mini bot is travelling in the field and disturb all thr robots equally)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe the FMS only handles the scoring of the bots, they will be controlled by the usual RC frequencies. It will be a little costly to outfit the RC cars with the wireless compatible with the FMS.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe they'll return all the Placebo robots to the field... Hovercraft, Vacuum, and I think there was another... If the vacuum worked, too, the field might stay clean!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Why should the field supply the minibot? I think how you build your minibot (following the rules of course) is very important...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Interesting. (Glad I'm not an FTA, though.)

Or you could just tag the minibots like that lap counters in '08 (except, you know, working) for scoring and then control them autonomously/via RC frequencies.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Eric, the other placebo was a confetti shooting bot.
Placebos sound like they were an interesting element to a match.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Here is a great video that could lead to an interesting game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_citFkSNtk