[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

Good Afternoon Teams,

The GDC came, they saw they redesigned. Calum and Paul weren’t able to join us this weekend, so some of the aesthetics of the design may change once they get their hands on it, but we think we have the 2011 game. We were able to ‘play’ through the game several times this weekend with GDC members and FRC Staff standing in as robots and can now turn our attention to the scoring, rules, game hints and last minute diabolical twists. Robots will be required to have bumpers, so buy your pool noodles now while they are still in season. (And no, this requirement has nothing to do with the bruise on Carla’s ankle.)

We built a robot out of parts expected to be in the 2011 kit and Ryan tried it out on the prototype field. It did what was expected. I bet you didn’t know we do that to make sure the kit can accommodate the game.

We were still making changes as of 2PM on Sunday, so there is always a risk that the game will change again (We are engineers after all. We always want to make one more improvement followed by just one more and just one more after that.) But I’m excited, it looks like we have the basics of the 2011 game. Now the FRC staff and I just have to find game pieces, work on CAD drawings, bid out the major construction, build field elements, build road cases, get the manual on line and a million other little things.

Oh, and they loved the pepper bacon and Haagen-Dazs.

131 days to Kickoff
See you then!

Please, please, please, use the generally accepted standard for drawings. The FIRST drawing should be the materials list. The second drawing should be the complete assembly of the field, with sub-assemblies called out by balloons with sheet and assembly number. And so on. Last year's drawings were extremely difficult to wade through and I know there was a ton of confusion among teams on the whole field and the dimensions.