Quote:
Originally posted by Matt Leese
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with that statement. I think we see many more similiar robots (basically, pusher bots) since we've had relaxed rules than when we had stricter rules. Compare the robots from 1998 to this year. Because you couldn't just build this overly complex drive train to just push everyone around, you had to work at designing a good mechanism to score.
I realize that the game design is partially at fault for this but the fact that a good drive train meaning you win has quite a bit to do with it also.
Matt
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Yea, well that game WAS too "swampable" by a simple "big tank" kind of bot.
Hmmm... How do you feel FIRST should "fix" that? Are you suggesting somehow restricting drive train complexity in the future? Yes, some of the major gearboxes are mind blowing and out of the reach for some teams. But OTOH, for me seeing innovative stuff like Thunderchicken's CVT design is half the fun!
I'd hate to lose that via something like defining a specific drivetrain in the rules!
Rather than limiting complexity and innovation, how about focusing more on game challenges where the type of drivetrain used in and of itself doesn't matter (or at least not swamp the game)?
I liked the game this year. I hope we see more "ramp top fights", or at least "hill cresting" behaviors of some kind in the future. Talk about leveling the field for drivetrains! I noticed that a simple two wheel two caster robot could EASILY flip and take out a "tracked monster" at a hill crest discontinuity, simply by being AT the far edge BEFORE the tank came "over the hump". As the tank crested the hill, its balance was extremely unstable, and the underside VERY vulnerable to a "little push"...
I hope this year for a "rock paper scissors" game of some kind, where one team can't swamp the game because you need your partner(s) to cover at least SOME of the possibilities.
Hmmm... How about including pie slice segment shaped CONICAL hills some year (or a "plus sign" KOH, with filler slices on the octagon sides)?
No side walls needed. You could run around it, or climb it at all sorts of funny angles. Balance, CG, and getting hung up on the sides' "mini peak edges" would ALL be a concern for Autonomous Mode! The drivetrains to automatically handle THAT one would be VERY interesting to see!
- Keith