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Originally Posted by Ryan Meador
Also, having robots unfold to more than their starting height has always been a key feature of every game, including last year. I believe that games that virtually require teams to make robots that get taller incite a lot more clever engineering than one where the robot not only is the height it starts at, but also can't tip over on its side to drive.
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I suspect the reason to this is because it's the only way to keep the fun in the game. When they started to explain the game my initial reaction was 'You know you could use a arm to just dump balls in that hole!" But really, whats the fun in that? I mean the main point of FIRST, and they do an amazing job of it, is to tease out that creativity to acomplish a completely unique way. Last year projectiles were illegal and one could say it stopped a lot of clever engineering this year projectiles are legal and vertical extension is illegal, like everything in engineering it's a tradeoff. Besides I think to give a team a completely new problem that doesn't have a simple solution inspires more creativity then to let them build on something they have done for two years straight. It keeps us out of a rut and is guarenteed to put gray in your hair!
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Originally Posted by Ryan Meador
Another thing FIRST has done well in the past but seems to be lacking this year is autonomous tasks. There's really only one autonomous goal this year: score the most points.
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I think you will find this years autonomous more challenging then any previous year. I think their is something in this game that has failed to be mentioned. This game is unique in that it requires a completeley new type of autonomous to really suceed. The driver, since it's not practical for him to do it him/herself, has to depend on programming
in game to control a key feature of the robot. Think of it as a hybridization of the traditional autonomous/player game. You see it a little in some automatic functions involving simple sensors but not to this extent.
Their are other aspects to that are not readily apparent that makes this game a step up from what ive normally done. And they also managed to include some old problems like visability (im thinking of seeing if you are beyond, on, or over the white boundary line) that are present every year. I think this is going to be a good year all in all. Ill chip in for Krispy Kremes too!
