[dhitchco]

Hmmmm..what's "better" about this year's game (than 2004 Triple Play with tetras)....

last year was my first year as mentor in FIRST. Here's what I see as the big plusses to this year's game

1) Multi-level playing field. Robots that climb are much more like the real world
2) Lots of "stuff" in the playing field. There could be 50 or more loose balls on the field, a big plus for "hunting & gathering" unlike the mess left behind by tetras last year.
3) Lots more inter-team action "behind the scene" as human players, coaches and drivers can all get involved in harvesting balls.
4) More dependence on bots that be BOTH offensive and defensive. Not just crash boxes..grrr. We'll also have to carefully watch the 5-sec grace period to get behind the lines in periods #2 and #3
5) More emphasis on software and vision system. that's the wave of technology!
6) Much easier for the audience to "get it" in the game scoring
7) Much more need to think out the "dodgeball" game strategy...shoot first or gather first and shoot later on....hmmm.