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Re: 2013 Game Hint!
Hi.
Luke from Team 3335 here, figure I'll put in my two cents.
Let's break this hint down, shall we?
First we should list every element in the image. We have:
4x Push Pin:
-1x Red
-1x Orange
-1x Yellow
-1x Blue
1x Rick @ 3:00 of the original video
1x Cork Board
1x Metal Border for Cork Board
1x White Background Wall
Now we should figure out what each of these items could mean individually.
Push Pins:
-In recent years, we have seen the act of pinning another robot to a wall or some other form of restricting movement, often by pushing them, as a disqualifying offense. On the other side of the end that is pushed, is (we can assume) a pointy part. Ergo, I draw the conclusion that pushing and pinning another robot will make for a painfully-given red card; nobody wants to be disqualified, and nobody wants to do the disqualifying!
Color scheme of push pins:
-Red, Orange, Yellow, and Blue. The first three are your basic "warm" colors, whilst the only "cool" color present is Blue. At first glance, this would suggest there will be some form of quadruple-team arrangement. However, I find this to be unlikely, as rearranging the field in such a manner as to support four teams would be impractical and costly. Not to mention 6/2 equalling 1. Eight robots on that size of field would be preposterous, let alone 12. Instead, I find the objective to be to obtain objects of various colors (red, yellow, orange, blue), with Blue and Red objects being obtained during autonomous mode.
Cork Board
-Clearly representative of the field, the cork board is what the push pins are pushed into. This is a very obvious sign that the floor will be either made of a cork-type material, or perhaps some of that squishy floor rather than carpet. In other words, expect a floor with a little bit of give to it.
Metal Border for Cork Board
-Obviously the metal border is the metal barrier around the outside of the field. It's sturdy, rigid, and only received one dent from my team's robot that it couldn't easily have buffed out of it. (We're sorry for that, Lone Star Regional. We were rookies and didn't know we needed to cycle the power after a round.)
White Background Wall
-I assume that the space not contained within the field will be some sort of white color to aid in photographic purposes when taking pictures from the stands, as well as making the lines of tape on the floor that guides robots on and off the field easily visible.
Last but not least, Rick.
-There are numerous factors to Rick's image. His microphone might suggest the use of ultrasonic sensors to detect distance would be useful this time around; perhaps to guide robots during an autonomous period for some purpose. The idea of a 3-alliance match is unlikely because it would probably require significant modifications to the field, which is, again, impractical and costly. Finally, the lyrics of the song suggest the game may involve attempting to attain and hold on to as many objects as possible, perhaps the opposite of Lunacy, where robots tried to score into other robots.
All of these together tell me we will be having a squish-floored metal-bound field with a white flooring around it. On the field will be Red and Blue alliances of 3 teams each, who compete for orange and yellow objects during the teleoperated period and attempt to obtain Red or Blue objects, respectively, during the Autonomous period.
I am sure I am not the first to draw these conclusions, and I know it is possible that I am completely wrong; my guesses as to last year's game involved a trapeze and water balloons.
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