anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

so yeah... i know its a bit early but its never to early to start brain-storming right?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

You said it all right there :p The game isn't even finished yet :rolleyes:


Edit: Yay 200th post!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

water game...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

No wheels -- hover craft.
A hockey-like game?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

well what something big (big in history big in sports big in science etc) that will tell u the type of game were going to have

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

A football oriented game? The elliptical balls would prove a worthy challenge to deal with!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

probably a variation of another mainstream sport (already did soccer, basketball, nascar)
mountain climbing?

I could see football but the GDC would have to write the rules to prevent excessive robot damage and Juggernaut teams (flying V robots).

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I would like to suggest that, if English is not your first language, make note of that in your sig.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Golf ROBOT GOLF......your robot must hit small white balls into holes and be able to act like Tiger Woods.. xD

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

given the huge explosion in Minnesota teams over the past few years... I think the game will be based on hockey :)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

*Begins working feverishly on an automated fist-pumping mechanism*

All jokes aside, I'd really like to get through this season before someone throws another game at me.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I'm just going to go ahead and start discussion of the 2013 game, if you don't mind...

Seriously, it gets earlier and earlier every year. But we as teams will know little or nothing until next January. Sure, it's fun to speculate. But to do that while well over a third of the teams still have at least one event left is just a little premature...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

With the Classmate and camera's finally being standard equipment for everyone, I think they should make a game where the bonus round requires the camera and driving from the camera.

Like submarine ROV's and robots in space sometimes the only feedback you have is what the camera is telling you. I would like to see a bonus round where they drop a curtain in front of each driver station, and then you have to manipulate a game piece or do something else difficult based only on your video feed.

As an alternative, they could have some sort of enclosure in the middle of the field where some game pieces are and the only way you can play with them is to have a camera on the end of your manipulator.

I would suspect this sort of game design feature would be coming soon.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Or a massive tunnel in the middle of the feild! Like covering the entire middle section!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Oh, c'mon. We all know it'll involve Krispy Kremes and Red Herrings :D

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

so we are going to have to build adulterous robots??? :O!!!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Hmmmm mountain climbing would be pretty interesting but i wonder how they would make that a team sport?

as for football: it would be pretty cool but i think that game is a bit too human oriented... but then again that makes it a better challenge.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

So last year (on the regolith) my co-mentor and I came up with a fantastic idea for a game: Roomba Hockey.

Basically, the floor is regolith/low friction stuff. Maybe even worse than regolith if they could manage. The game pieces are Roombas with everything but the driving parts removed.

The goal of the game would be to corral the roombas into a section of the field... which they could then drive out of, or be removed from by a competitor.

Think slippery "hungry hungry hippos" except the balls can escape and be stolen!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Really already?!? lol

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

We all know it is going to be BattleBots.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

You have to collect shrubberies. Bonus points for cutting down the tallest tree in the forest with a herring.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I hear they're taking an old game and redesigning it. They say it's gonna be the best game yet! It's called "Moonacy!" :D

And just because... water game!?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

This forum needs a rule that disallows this discussion before the end of Atlanta... is that even possible?

I mean, I don't think the GDC is going to give a legitimate hint before the end of Atlanta anyways. And we need something to speculate off of, or it just spirals into another water game thread :rolleyes:.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe it'll be a bumperless year!!! :ahh: :ahh: :ahh:

Nah...FIRST likes those things too much...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

The god bot will have sails.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

hmmm, no one has said baseball?? Tech robots are doing that now. It would me kinda fun, but maybe too easy. We need another Pyramid game, but from what I hear that game was toooo violent lol.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

20th Year anniversity...
Take year one, and modify it for year 20.... Be cool

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Dodgeball game. You can score by hitting another robot with a ball or catching a ball. If your bot gets hit, it gets disabled for like 5 seconds. If you catch it, the other robot gets disabled and any disabled teammates get re-enabled.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

That's a corny idea. Literally.

(Maize Craze was played on a corn field. Yes, you heard that correctly.)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

So are we going to get rid of our wireless adapters and run tethers overhead?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

whatever it is its gonna be better than this year

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Robot Curling.
Canada rejoices as they beast every event they enter.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe the last 20 seconds of teleop will be done in complete darkness. Teams are forced to use onboard sensors or night-vision cameras (in 2011 KOP???).

Or, maybe autonomous will become more important than just the first 20 seconds. Maybe teams will receive bonus points for scoring in a 30 second autonomous mode.

Whatever the game is, January can't come soon enough.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

AGREED TIMES 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think many are starting to disagree with that statement.... The tournements, being played espically in michigan, are some of the best I've seen in 2 years. Watching teams to try to come up with plans of attack agasint hardcore teams (469), is something you havent seen in two years. A robot can dominate and people will come to watch that one robot play. Atlanta finals are gonig to be nuts, and probably x20 times more exciting than last year!! In this game you can't have 30 point blowouts in elmiations..1 point can make the difference.. Plus we will see the best hangers from around the world on the same field..

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Ahh of course. Back to tethers. :rolleyes:

But seriously people, how do you not enjoy Breakaway?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think Breakaway may be the best game FIRST has had since 2006. Especially in the elims.
Now if only they haven't gone for that ranking system (even "improved" it's still kinda dopey. Gimmie W-L-T any day).

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I liked OverDrive the best,

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Yeah! Now that is going to be an epic game! I have also seen many posts on this thread and many others about having... a semi-autonomous as the End Game. This seems like a really neat idea... and one that has a good chance of being implimented. I only wonder how they will manage to pull off a houdini on the drivers... besides having a massive curtain go over the drivers stations.

Another trend of posts I have seen allot of, is how bad this year is. I personally love this year. And really(!), how could you say something like that after last year? Lunacy? This year adds a whole new challenge with the bumps. (Though I do understand the difficulty has been hard on many teams (including mine) due to the weather).

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

guess it wasn't pointless after all... lol. I personally liked breakaway and watching all the other competitors tackle the multiple challenges in there own unique way. unfortunately it was a little too hard for my team. but i do know one thing: Next year I"m going to take on a leadership role and make sure everyone knows about 1601. whatever the game is we'll be ready (puts on determined face)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I really didnt think this years game was going to be all that great at first, but after watching/competing in some events I think this years game is awesome!

Only idea I have for next years game is the main playing element will not be round, or at least not a nice ball. Just look at events from about 2002 on, even numbered years are a nice ball, odds are not. Only somewhat deviation is last year, but that still was not really a ball.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Haha, we met the brazilian team 1772 at Palmetto. Their bot last year was kinda nonfunctional, but they BEASTED this year, making it all the way to finals after ranking 6th. Hmm...:p

I'm seeing a pattern: last year basketball, this year soccer. Perhaps next year baseball? Maybe robots have to catch balls and drive to certain areas with them. Or even tennis (prepares to bring a ball feeding machine to competition).
I bet the GDC's already bookmarked this thread. For the sake of seeing a robot using bumpers as floaties: Water Game!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think that there are major themes that FIRST tries to go by. Last year, scoring balls, wasn't anything spectacular, it was the regolith flooring that made the game correlate with a major lunar accomplishment.

Likewise, this year, it was soccer with a twist in accordance with the FIFA world cup coming up.

It seems that FIRST is starting to go out and get inspiration from this going on around the world, and in that manner, they develop the game. But I think it is *impossible* to guess the twist that the GDC adds to each game.

Like if you tell someone we're playing soccer, there's nothing overly hard about that. If you show them the field and tell them about a couple of the rules, then the entire game changes.

We can really only wait and see what the GDC keeps pumping out.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

*sigh* I know I'm going to sound stupid asking this, but: what does "GDC mean?....

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

HANDBALL!!!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I believe it means "Game Design Commision", but im not positive.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Game Design Committee.

Better known as the group of evil geniuses that we all want to graciously professionally beat up sometime during build season because of X rule that we absolutely hate for whatever reason.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

LOL!

i think first goes a little too far with the safety thing. they say most of these rule are for safety but i think they just like to get on our nerves. for example: why limit the amount of motors we can use?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Equal power. Think about it: I buy 20 CIMs and use all of them on one robot. That robot could easily tear itself apart (assuming that the battery didn't drain instantly or something of that nature), damaging everything around. Or, it could outpush and outrun every other robot out there and do a few other things while it was at it--with a single-speed drive and the right wheels.

By limiting the number and type of motors, the maximum power is roughly equalized for everyone, pneumatics being the "roughly" part. Imagine competing at sumo wrestling against a pro sumo wrestler, and that's what could happen if you put the quantity of motors to unlimited.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

i sortof get your point. but on the flip side everyone could go out and buy 20 cims and that might actually be pretty awesome to see 6 robots reach running around with 20 cims.

in any case maybe the motor example wasn't the best point....

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

1114 does this already...;)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Yes and no. It would create a sort of arms race, and is not something that, I believe, FIRST wants to do.

Another reason for it is it's a design challange. Using less than optimal motors to do specific tasks means improvisation and innovation ... both are good things IMHO.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think that it will not have balls as game objects because they used balls the last 3 years.
I also think they won't model after another sport.

I hope they make a game that allows for very creative out of the box robots. Many this year are boxes.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

well said, point taken... but i guess that means they do try to drive us crazy >_<

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I liked breakaway, because of all the strategy that was involved in it. I'd hope they continue to produce games with a lot of strategy. I'd imagine that the GDC would go with a combination game for FIRST's 20th year(combination of past games).

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

over-break-acy and roll?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Yes, seeing that small balls were used two times in a row makes next years game piece(s) unlikely to be small balls, yet they are easy to work with and they open the door for a lot of creativity and potential. I do not think they will be small balls next year, but I will not be surprised if they are once again.

On the topic of creativity in regards to the robot, I do wish that this game allowed for more different ideas. One of the main reason I enjoyed Lunacy was because there were so many robots with different ways of scoring; I said "Wow, that's clever/ingenious" countless times the first day of competition. This year, it all seems to be the same bot and similar kicker design. The only thing that is different that I still go crazy over is the way each team manages to lift itself. That still drops my jaw. I just think that next year should open the door a little more and allow for more creativity.

$0.02

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Agreed. This was my first year going to FRC and I saw a few lifters that blew my mind. They showed me what "out of the box thinking" really is.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

That's what I've been thinking for the past 2 years. :P

Although each year, I don't expect another ball game, I'm thoroughly surprised by what the GDC can do with a ball.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I have it on good authority that we will be required to launch and retrieve a flying ROV.
Bruce

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Well, let's go to our friends, Wikipedia and Google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011

2011 is...
...the UN's declared International Year of Forests, and International Year of Chemistry.
...the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (and yet, there are two towers on the game field THIS year)
...the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500
...the 150th anniversary of MIT

If anyone decides to actually heavily research events, be on the lookout for other 20th anniversaries :P

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I do not think they will use MIT, since it would be to partial towards one school. However I would love to see what they would do as an anniversary for MIT.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I'm always down for another ball game.

Water polo anyone?

Seriously, I would really love seeing a water game, though it should never happen.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

It better be easy on autonomus robots...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

For what it's worth, the FRC competition is actually based on an MIT class called 2.007. All MIT engineers (or at least the ones I know) are required to take it, and way back yonder it was taught by Dr. Flowers.

For the record, I want my mobile goals back (see 2004, 2002, 2001). Trailers were cool, but it was more fun when we could fight over them. :)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Mobile goals were great for my team in 2004. We were dedicated to latching on, and made sure no one could score past us. We got all the way to Newton,a nd were seeded number 1 until our driver train broke.

I hope that they come up with a new mechanic, since each year there will be a way to totally own the game [469], and I would like to come up with a new way to do it!

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

FIRST is moving the champs to St. Louis because of it's proximity to the Mississippi River. It's going to be a robot regatta, of course!

Water games aside, though, I think the only way to know for sure would be to kidnap Dave Lavery. (Note: I am not liable for any criminal or civil charges acquired in the process of kidnapping Dave Lavery. Please do not kidnap Dave Lavery.)

Lets see...
30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch
20th anniversary of the announcement of the Internet
20th anniversary of the announcement of Linux
20th anniversary of the invention of carbon nanotubes

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

haha! everyone will be required to bring a robot that can perform hijacks :D

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe we will have to build an indy car that can do something they do at MIT.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Hm...Forests relate to the environment, and that sounds like a theme that is right up FIRST's alley. And so is Chemistry.

9/11 is too touchy of a topic.

I think '08 was really close to racing and I think that's as close as we're gonna get.

And I don't know what they can do with MIT. I mean, that doesn't narrow it down that much, MIT is involved in nearly everything.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe... Teams have to arrange objects labeled with elements to form cellulose. Bonus points for climbing a real tree in the middle of the field.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think we would have a riot on our hands

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

What ever the game may be I just want a scoring system that works, a scoring system were people can just understand after watching one match, a scoring system where teams don't score on them selves then ill be happy with what ever the game is. :)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

The current scoring system doesn't work?

1 pt for a goal. 2 pts for a hang. 3 points for a suspend.

Seems simple and works.


... now if you are talking about the seeding system ... well, just consider it another challange and another thing to overcome (or at least read that section before your first regional :ahh: )

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

My only problems are...

-the ball return action that can produce a lot of penalties by a small accident
-the seeding system

These are the only things, in my mind, that need to be modified for next year.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

What do u mean i the ball return action requires perfection? it seamed pretty simple and straight forward to me... mabye im not understanding what your talking about:confused:

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I probably worded it wrong. It seems that a lot of penalties are coming from not returning the ball in time. Our team has lost a match or two because of ball return penalties, and I see it happen a lot of times. Sorry for the confusion. I'll edit that.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I understand Crown Suppliers have a say in what might be included in subsequent games. This year there is a new Crown Supplier on the block that is very, ahem, involved with FRC...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Andy Mark? :ahh:

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Oh ok i see. but i disagree still i think it just took some vigilance on the human players part. i think it adds to the stakes of the game. however, it is kinda depressing to lose a match because u didnt return a ball to the field ontime

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

You know, if they made the teeth on their sprockets longer, and strung a whole bunch together, they could make a paddle wheel...

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I have a bad idea.

What if... Instead of waiting until next year January for build season, we started designing our own game? How much interest is there? If you're interested, PM me. Based on interest, we can go from there. Of course, we'll have to reuse the KOP from this year, I know my team has no money right now. (Business team takes the off season off. I dunno why.)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

i really want to see some sort of a king of the hill goal involved in a game. i know it in itself isn't deep enough but maybe if you did like multiple hills and which one to be on top of randomly switches throughout the game, and you combine some other elements or morph with a whole other game maybe.

i would also love to see a field dimension change although that would be pricey, i think a triangle could be pretty cool.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I like the current field dementions as it makes for easy viewing. I like the idea of having multible completly different ways to score instead of just one way like most years (not counting bonuses).

Also next year probably won't use normal balls because they seem to rotate years.

2004: Stack Attack :balls
2005:Triple Play:tetras
2006:Aim High:balls
2007:Rack 'n Roll:tubes
2008:Overdrive: balls
2009:Lunacy: poof balls (kind of balls)
2010:Breakaway: balls
2011: ? :not balls

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Maybe with a third alliance... That has some potential. But a BJC said it would be hard to watch.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

With a third alliance on a triangle field anyone viewing the match would have to look over or through driver station windows that would cover the entire perimeter of the field. Nobody would really be able to see whats going on except the drivers:(

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

circle feild?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I think that would be a good idea, and I am interested. However I think that the logistics would be very difficult. yet doable, I think it would be a lot like organizing an off season event.

If we do this we should keep the game very simple and perhaps have a more drawn out build season so it is not as stressful as the normal build season.

who else is interested.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Is there really anything stopping this from being a year round sport with the GDC creating spring game too? Or perhaps if the teams came up with it by themselves FIRST would alow teams to borrow the fields for compititions. This would make the next three years of my life! After all basketball, football, soccer, ect have off seasons where they practice. What if instead of teams pursuing their own off seasons projects, the GDC could give a problem that was kind of a lead in into the actual seasons game! This would be so sweet!!!:D :D :D

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Woah. I am most definatly liking where this is going. And I am most definatly interested in getting an off season competition going. Do I see a FIRST Robotics Competition rival 10, maybe 5 years down the road? perhaps FIRCDURC? (For Inspiration and Recognition of Chief Delphi Users Robotics Competition)

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

@BJC: 2004 was not Stack Attack (that was tim and jim's least favorite year and Mom's only year - 2003), it was FIRST Frenzy, but it was a ball game. 2003 was a non-ball game). Also, @ your last comment, we have OCCRA for that. With only like 5 pages of rules total, student-built requirements, and no bumpers (full contact!).

I like the idea of modifying the alliances a little bit. Anyone remember how 2001 was a 4v0 game where everyone worked together, against no-one (they did everything based on time). I can't see them changing any time soon based on the field layout, except maybe moving 4v4 or something (and removing the human players at the ends).

I really really want a non-ball game. I hate ball games, because (with the exception of 2008) the ball game robots look less exciting then those that don't handle balls.
Look at 33's past robots.
2000 was short enough to go under the goal, yet extended with a billion-segment (actually, it was no more than 5 segments) elevator, to score and hang.
2001. Shortest 33 robot that still exists (nothing past 2000 is remembered by most). It hooked to two goals with its double-headed design, and dragged fallen robots off the ramp with some hooks that could be lowered on the front. Back in this time there was no autonomous mode, no bumpers, no CIM motors, and a PBASIC processor with 63 bytes of variable space, yet it still made it to finals on Einstein without problems.
2002. Large robot that collected soccer balls, first 33 bot to have honeycomb, and had an articulated chassis to lift the goal off the ground after it was latched (it jacked up the rear wheels to lift instead of moving the hitch). This robot had sorta-bumpers as part of the goal hitch, but they were part of the robot, unlike now.
2003 has a giant arm to stack boxes, and when the arm is down forward it can do "death spirals" where all of the wheels are off the ground but the front pair. From these days came the "happy feet" to climb a wire mesh ramp, PBASIC autonomous mode, PIC Co-Processor to count encoder clicks and feed them via DAC into an ADC on the PBASCIC controller, and no bumpers.
2004 bot. It was known as a refrigerator, because it was a giant box on wheels. The least exciting robot we have.
2005: They stacked semi-large heavy tetras on odd-shaped goals, using crazy manipulator arms that moved with many joints to pickup and place tetras. Ours has an arm with two joints and a pneumatic-actuated three-fingered hand (the middle finger is separate from the other two; great for victory motions). This robot has bumpers on the front and rear, although they are not the pool-noodle type we have now.
2006: Rolling boxes with turreted (or non-turreted) shooters, a storage mechanism, and a rule that prevents extension above 60" (the starting height). Like 2004, you see rolling boxes, although these actually do something cool. Ours had a rotary ball sorter.
2007: Tubes on a rack. Like 2005, we see manipulators of many sorts, with roller claws, gripper claws, and other claw designs on multi-jointed arms, elevators, and other crazy contraptions. It looks cool. Ours has a sweet arm with three joints (a shoulder and elbow on the main axis, and a wrist rotation on the end), and a pneumatic claw. Unlike this and last year, there are no limits on where you can touch opponents robots, and bumpers are not required.
2008 was similar. Manipulator arms for really big game pieces. We had an elevator where the top roller on the ball fell back to go under the overpass. It looks cool and drives fast.
Then we come to 2009. This is my least-favorite game. Many robots that can't extend out of their starting box driving around and shooting moon rocks into trailers. There was some excitement, but not much. Many robots closely followed a few designs, and the robots don't demo quite as well as we want, especially with slick wheels (other than that they are pretty cool to demo though).
2010: Lots of short robots with kickers. Some have hanging mechanisms, some are better than others. Not much special in most, but some can hang or manipulate balls well and excell.


2011: I hope we have another year with robots that get bigger than they start. Something like 2007 or 2005 would be ideal for me, but something that makes teams think outside the box and where the GDC does not decide what people should/will/must build to manipulate the game pieces, as the large number of rules this year required a ball manipulator basically be a kicker of sort. Maybe the scoring should be simple like this year, but any bonuses should be worth more than 2 points. If we want to build a giant 5-jointed arm to pickup a soccer ball via 6-fingered servo-actuated hand and to gracefully pickup a ball or build a catapult to whip the balls across the field (with limits on ball speed to prevent damage, of course) why can't we?


I've been thinking, why doesn't the GDC combine elements from previous games into a "best of the best" game? Giant moving goals (2002) + giant game pieces (2005-2007-ish) + big bonuses (2007, 2004) + terrain (2001,2003,2004,2010) would be ultimate. Except designing a robot to lift really heavy goals with large PVC rings over teeter-totters or over bumps would be a pain to design and build, so you they could do something like "score large PVC rings on your alliances moving rack to get points, then move it to a platform to get more points, then elevate yourself off of it for even more points, plus a bonus if you're elevated on it while it is on the platform." so you don't have to do it all. You could have robots that specialize in doing one thing well, like scoring on the rack or moving the rack to the platform. You could have defensive robots that move the rack somewhere else to make it harder to score, like moving the rack off the platform or scoring negating rings. What could rookie teams do with kitbots? Probably nothing with a kitbot by itself, but building a single-jointed manipulator arm would be fairly easy and could do a decent amount, scoring on low levels of the rack, plus they could make it strong enough to lift the robot off the goal as well. What could more experienced teams with better manufacturing capabilities do? multi-jointed arms to play game pieces higher up and large hitches on the back to carry racks and lift themselves. How could you make it even better? multi-shaped game pieces (like squares = 4 points, triangles = 3 points, circles = negative 3 points, goal on platform = 10 points, robot hanging off goal = 5 points. The platform could be something to fight for, having room for only two robots and two towers, so other robots have to hang off the side if they want to join, or something like that. @DaveLavery: No vision. The cRio has a hard time with vision, but combined with the rest of the robot systems, it is almost impossible.


As soon as we get a hint, whether from Dave via extra punctuation translated as Morse code or an actual hint, I know we will say it's a water game. And it won't be. But, until the kickoff, we will have no idea. That isn't to say we can't think about what we would like the game to be.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

whats OCCRA? and where state is it in?

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association. It's a MI organization, but I know that there are probably similar ones out there in other states.

http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/Default.aspx?tabid=535

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

OCCRA stands for Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association (thus only teams from Oakland Country, MI are involved in it) and it is a robotics competition during the fall months. OCCRA is similar to FIRST since both competitions supply teams with a kit of parts and have a similar schedule (6 weeks of build and then a month of competitions). The biggest difference is that students have to design, build, code, and test their robot and they cannot use advance machining techniques (such as welding or milling) to build parts.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Oh Ok i see well maybe iwe can get something set up in new york. and other states also

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

Although OCCRA is all good and well, I would really love to have a problem/hint by the GDC that has to do with the next years game, which teams would attempt to solve in the off season. For example, if it was this year, perhaps building a drivetrain that could go over elevated terrain would be hinted at. Then the GDC could have made the rest of the game more difficult, because lets face it most of us spent at least the first 2 weeks of build season on a drivetrain that could go over the bump:p . This ideas really growing on me, because I know the GDC would always throw curveballs. For example, if they had done it this year instead of just giving us the bump and telling us to go over it in the off season, they would give us a similar yet different challenge such as going up stairs or something of that sort. Besides most areas don't have opportunities like OCCRA.

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I want to play football with robots... 7 on 7 may be more appropriate

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

I would love the play by only camera function. I'm a fan of the ball games, and they seem to entice the crowd more especially, Though this system of scoring is simple, i was talking to people who were not part of FIRST and were at the competition and were lost on what was going on like
"scoring into your own side"
"how do the points work"

Maybe game of dodge ball or hockey would be amazing, a lot of teams seem to want to take a nice whack at others bots (and doing not very much damage for ::safety::'s sake) and get rewarded for it.

By the way, this is my first time in this type of discussion and have learned one word to make ten posts follow it
"water game!!!"

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

WATER GAMES FTW!!! O_O :D

Re: anyone have any ideas about next years game?
 

haha... water game thatd be fun. im thinking glow in the dark (assuming safety would allow it. haha jk.).
something football like would definitely be an interesting challenge. i feel as if lunacy was a mix of basketball and ice hockey, so i think those two are out. breakaways obviously similar to soccer... maybe we could work something baseball-like in ;)
No matter what it is, its gonna be great and I can't wait to see the diversity of next years robots! GO TEAMS!