Pro -
- It would be something different for many of the teams to try
- Almost every team will start out with pretty much the same level of expertise - for some of the long-term mentors and engineers, it will be like starting in the FIRST program all over again, as they get to discover how much they know (and don't know) as they work in a new environment (personally, this aspect alone sounds like so much fun I almost don't need any other reason to want to try a water-based game)
- Water and the existing FRC control system co-exist quite happily, no matter what the "theorists" that have no actual empirical data may tell you (we have known this since at least the summer of 2000)
- Water could be a game factor in many, many ways - not all of them involve AUV-class devices
- New opportunities for previously-impractical robot designs and mobility technologies
- Opportunities to learn about sonar, acoustic range finders, and long-band optical communications
- Everyone gets to be SCUBA certified
- Woodie Flowers is joined by Jacques Cousteau Jr at the kick-off events
- We never have to worry if any of the robots catch on fire
- Designing and building a water-compatible robotic system is no more difficult than a mobile terrain-based robot - it is just different. The technologies are not what many teams may currently be used to, but they are no more esoteric, complex or difficult than anything that the teams are using now.
- If the game domain does dive below the surface (ha!) then the potential for a real three-dimensional arena is a wonderful opportunity
- Inexpensive acoustic positioning systems make underwater localization in a small environment a trivial problem (e.g. 3DAPS has been around for over 15 years)
- Software doesn't mind hydration - zeros and ones underwater work exactly the same way as zeros and ones on dry-land
- All the robots get to have little pirate flags on them, and we can all wear eye patches and swagger around going "yo-ho-ho me hardies!"
- Water (on it or under it) is a much more forgiving environment than that for aerial robotics
- Different and new vendors and sponsors could become involved in the FIRST program, enabling the FIRST philosophy to be spread further throughout our communities
- The competition arena would be LESS expensive to build than the current competition fields (yes, I am sure about this - a 12 x 24 x 4 foot temporary above ground pool currently goes for as little as $800 and you can get a 24 x 48 foot one for about $3000 - compare that with the cost of a typical complete FRC competition field from that past several years)
- The referees get to wear cute striped bathing caps
Con -
- After the 2008 game, there won't be any challenge left to it
-dave
p.s. I was also going to add a bullet that said "Andy Baker in a swim suit" but decided against it. You get to figure out if it was going to go in the "Pro" or "Con" column...
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