Hey CD!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I have a cool idea (which probably is a couple years away in terms of FIRST actually doing it..but MAYBE it will be for this year.)
FIRST becoming economical....VIRTUAL GAME PIECES
Even though FIRST usually has their game pieces at least partially donated by supplier partners, a very interesting concept to me would be
virtual game pieces.
Imagine a game in which there are four locations on the field with integrated IR signal emitters that give out a red, blue, green, or yellow signal (for example) when a robot comes up to it with their IR receiver.
Once the team is within range of the receiver, the signal is picked up by the robot and a beacon (maybe like a LED light on the robot) lights up the color given out by the IR signal. This is equivalent to a
Virtual Game Piece.
Bringing the
virtual game piece to the correct colored goal scores a point.
Advantages of this idea:
1) no need for game pieces....(Saves LOTS of money for teams and FIRST)
2) instant score board updates (since it is all controlled by the IR signals)
3) Game is different every time since you might not know which color you will get at each station.
Disadvantages:
1) Not sure if we will have IR transmitters too...to send the goal the scoring info.
2) Unlikely that FIRST will ever get rid of a real game scoring piece...this might be used for a bonus or big point objective.
As always...I am probably over analyzing the situation...but thats what I do best
-Gabe G.