Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Strauss
We are given a rainbow ribbon wire for an infrared receiver, am i the only one who thinks the absence of ultra violet means something?
perhaps ultra violet is supposed to clue us to some sort of sun related theme or game piece.
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In light of the fact (no pun intended...ok maybe pun intended) that we've been mailed an actual component instead of a cryptic riddle or image, I think that mostly everyone is totally justified in speculating what the IR sensor means in terms of its function & possible applications...
But I can't shake the feeling that a symbolic reading of the thing, like Simon says, might turn out to have value, too, though it may be a longshot. I dunno, maybe I'm just stubborn to adjust to this hands-on hint style, but I wouldn't put it past the GDC to pack some symbolism into these lovely December gifts. That said, I have nothing else to add to the ultraviolet interpretation. (Except...Milla Jovovich...)
Other peoples' ideas that I think I like (forgive me for no citation):
1) The 4 signals could mean more than one autonomous task during the game, at certain times during a match the field would switch all robots to another channel...but my issue with this is that multiple autonomous options is probably beyond the capabilities of a fair # of teams...maybe there would be other tasks for robots who aren't packing multiple autonomous modes, and those robots' channel 3 would just remain driver control, for example. But then that's a LOT of stuff going on in every match...
2) The 4 signals could determine zones, a la 2002's Zone Zeal except not pre-determined zones. And for teams that don't capitalize on using this IR board, since it's not characteristic of FIRST to make aspects of the game that some teams will be totally shut out from doing (any previous use of the camera or IR follow-the-line sensor in autonomous could attempt to be mimicked by a dead reckoning autonomous), maybe after some seconds have elapsed, whatever invisible indication has been given via IR will become visible for everyone else.
Maybe, the zone layout will be concentric circles, and/or IR transmitters on the field will be positioned like planets...and/or the IR transmitter will be in the center of the field and whatever goals/scoring elements will be scattered around like planets. I'm just grasping at the aforementioned possible Sun idea.