FIRST Robotics Wish List

[SiliconKnight]

I'd love to see...

* More lax material rules: Allow carbon fibre in composites, instead of just fibreglass, remove size limitation of starting materials, so that teams can mill their own motor mounts :-)

* More motors: Put servos onto additional hardware list

* More electrical freedom: Maybe allow the team to use a 24V system?

* More wheel choice: Limit wheels by size, not by manufacturer.

Just my 2 cents :-)

-=- Terence

[Dan 550]

I would love to see a lot more variation in the match teams. This year, we had three or four matches against 219 and three or four matches paired with 551. We work closely with both these teams through the build season and openly share information and facilities with them when asked, and they do the same with us. We, and other teams, had other similar-match trends at Rutgers this year and at Philadelphia last year, but more so this year. I would have really liked to interact with more teams on the field, and I'd like to see these *almost the same each time* matches go away in favor of a different alliance every time.

[Wetzel]

Read other posts and some thoughts.

Steel extrusion: Sure, why not. It's just heavier. But easier to weld then aluminum.

Same game in quals and finals: Yes.

Dump the yahoo group. Yes.

Tech inspectors. I know there are a lot of college students that don't participate with a team for whatever reason. I bet quite a few of them would be able to donate a weekend to goto a regional and inspect and whatnot.

Pneumatics: This size cylinder with this stroke from any source.

Floor: How about using some sort of interlocking rubber tile for a change, or just staying with the carpet.

Leave the weight where it is, or lower it.

I like the idea of autonomy, but the field really isn't all that sturdy, and having robots run selfcontained for 20 seconds....run into each other or walls at high speeds. This would have to be addressed by game design.

Metric vs Standard: One or the other, but not both.

Make chairmans award due after Nats. Maybe in October. For example, the Chairman's award for Zone Zeal would be due this comming October. Summer tobe used for outreach and the cummlunation of that competition, in preperation for the new season.

Vertical changes for movement. Climb ladder/stairs/ramp. Prolly not a second story, for the construction involved, but maybe a few large platforms with 6"-12" in height.


Wetzel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I want to know is how purifying water will fit in.....

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Hello All,
I am very happy that we were allowed an electrical box this year but some teams who do not have experienced elec techs had some really dangerous outboard wiring. So the rules there need to be tightened up a bit. Also raise the $100 limit, $200 would be nice but $150 should open some doors for teams as well.
The weight and size limits are in place so two people can move the robot and get it through standard size doors. For these reasons I can't really see a need for any change there.
Over the years there has been some really interesting interpretation of the rules that required some informed (multi person) discussion before a rule question could be answered. Experienced teams have qualified adults who could help in this area. It is essential that teams get all the latest updates and not have to go searching for them. If there are team updates, perhaps they should be e-mailed to team leaders or at least be published in weekly updates.(Fridays OK?)
There needs to be better checklists for judges particularly with electrical. i.e. A simple volt/ohmeter check to insure no shorts to chassis at inspection. There were teams who also had battery mounting that was less than secure and placed the battery terminals very close to structural metal. Since battery damage is a real threat here for a 12v/17aHr battery I really cannot advocate larger batteries. Under no circumstances should teams be allowed to power up without tether in the pits and should not be forced to by judges during inspection. (This caused a great deal of interference at regionals.)
Finally, let teams know that this is open competition and they can expect help from any team. Hammer this point home and make sure that rookie teams understand the concept. Too many teams struggle through competition with a problem they can't solve, or don't have the tools or matierials to fix.

[Joe Matt]

How 'about making a game that is easy to learn, hard to master, and can captivate an audience?

Sure, FIRST isn't into the Battlebots thing, but there are still ways of demolition that aren't viloent.

Originally posted by JosephM
How 'about making a game that is easy to learn, hard to master, and can captivate an audience?

Sure, FIRST isn't into the Battlebots thing, but there are still ways of demolition that aren't viloent.

Dean, Woodie & Co. have been trying that for years

[Joel J]

Originally posted by JosephM
How 'about making a game that is easy to learn, hard to master, and can captivate an audience?...

Othello.. thats all I have to say.

[Eric Bareiss]

I think that 130 pounds is enough. I am a the one who has to carry it on and off the field and I think that 130 pounds is plenty. I think that dimensions should grow if the game grows. But what I would like to see is a lager variety of pneumatics, and more allowed on the robot 5 is not enough.

[Ian W.]

the only problem is, if you use more pneumatics, you need larger/more accumulators, you need a bigger compressor, you need a stronger battery, and so on, and that means it will wind up weighing much more than it does now. then we come back to the whole problem of fitting it through a standard size door. i think that no matter how the game changes, the size will never change. eventually, FIRST might allow heavier robots, but that's a big if. especially if there's only four people on the field, you can't make the robot too heavy. the only way around that is if they let you wheel the robot onto the field, although that could damage the carpet, so i doubt that.

i'm not saying i oppose changes to size and weight, it's just that it would be a very difficult thing for FIRST to do.

[DaBruteForceGuy]

I want to see the nematics to be more flexible. I want to be able to do more with pneumatics but at the same time keep the wieght low. If there are more vertical obsticals and climbing the weight should be lowerd and there should be more maneuverablitlity in the feild of pneumatics. i would really hate to see the weight go up because then either the gearbox or motor sizes would have to increase inadvertenly increasin g it's own weight.
What i m trying to say is that there is an inverse relationship with the weight and pneumatic options.
In response to the rubber tile idea for the feild, i think that that woiuld be a great idea. Alot like the interlocking puzzle shaped tiles in a weight room. that stuff would be awesome for tracktion and is very durable at the same time!

[Andy A.]

What ever the game is, I hope it encourages robots to be speedy. I don't know, but this year seemed like a bunch of tanks. Watching 4 robots go after 3 goals was like watching slugs fighting it out. It was boring to everyone watching! But when a bunch of 'bots with high gearing went out and scooted all over, I noticed people getting really into it (not just team members). If you want people out side of FIRST to take notice, 3 fps drive trains just arn't going to do us much good. People don't like watching mack trucks, they like sports cars and formula one!

I just like speed...

-Andy A.

[Clark Gilbert]

This wont really help people looking for teams at an event.....but how about at the Regionals/Nationals mixing up the team numbers or integrating rookie teams/newer teams with the veteran teams?

This would help out with what Al Skierkiewicz was saying about helping teams...most (hopefully all) veteran teams are always willing to share tools/materials with other teams if they need them.

[Todd Derbyshire]

1) Remove the anti-TJ^2 rule!!!! (For those who don't know it's using velcro. Watch the 99 season I believe Nationals

2) If the carpet is being used again ban filecards. Why because now everybody knows the secret and its not very entertaining

3) Can we PLEASE go back to everyman for themselves!!! Too many times has the alliance thing screwed teams over. Fine you say so what do you purpose 1vs.1vs.1vs.1 same amount of teams playing so the speed factor is ok. Plus nobody can gain up and dominate over one person because now their is that fourth person. With the alliance system now teams who are seeded 1-4 are victimizing their partners who might have a chance of either breaking into the top 8 or higher. This happened to my team this year and we were pushed down in the seedings to seventh at Florida and we felt very betrayed by the system.

4) Define all rules and be consistant maybe give a video demonstration with the team updates with the rules so clarity can be certain. A visual usually works better than words because words can be misinterpeted.

5) To qualify for Florida points have to carry over... And if spots are open the teams with the most points should be able to qualify. (Like say team X has 4 points and a spot is available after the odd teams they should be let in)

6) Have a cut off date for signing up for Nationals don't hold teams in limbo. Like say have all teams that are
qualified sign up on Jan.1
Odd numbered teams Jan15
Teams with most qualifiying points Feb 15

7) Devise a qualification system for Nationals that lets teams have the ability to travel to Nationals. Weeks notice is not good and not cheap...

8) Chairman's award needs more time robot is still being designed during the time the chairman's award is being completed.

Ok that's it for now that I can think of

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally posted by Todd Derbyshire
4) Define all rules and be consistant maybe give a video demonstration with the team updates with the rules so clarity can be certain. A visual usually works better than words because words can be misinterpeted.

5) To qualify for Florida points have to carry over... And if spots are open the teams with the most points should be able to qualify. (Like say team X has 4 points and a spot is available after the odd teams they should be let in)

7) Devise a qualification system for Nationals that lets teams have the ability to travel to Nationals. Weeks notice is not good and not cheap...

For #4 on the list... they sort of already do that at Kick off - they show (using people) how the game should be played... But showing better diagrams of rule changes (i.e. tethers under the goal, etc) would be helpful to us all!

As for #5, That's another thing FIRST did this year. Even numbered teams qualified first. Then people with a certain number of points, then people with a lower number of points and then they let anyone else who wanted to sign up, sign up (just because they didn't have enough teams the first two times around).

And for #7 - yeah, I definitely agree. Trying to get hotel reservations and, mostly, plane tickets with only a few weeks notice would not be fun. Our team was lucky enough to sign up when they let whoever wanted to go sign up. But if we hadn't done that, we would have found out that we were going a month before Nationals (for winning a technical award) - and a month is a decent amount of time compared to some teams!

A few more things (some echoing what others have said):

At both regionals and Nationals, have veteren teams play with rookies more often, and mix up the teams a little more! I know at our regional we played with some of the same teams three times during quals.

I think weight should be left the same or even lowered (make the bots lighter). That would be interesting

Keep the size the same.

Up the amount you can spend at Digikey.

Let teams use whatever springs they want (ok, maybe have restrictions on what kind of springs can be used, but give more freedom than just what comes in the kit).

And make sure the same rules are followed by all of the inspectors at competitions (Don't tell teams at regionals that it is OK to use tape to cover up nuts/bolts that are sticking out - especially if it's electrical tape that won't really cover any sharp edges ... The checklist even says "electrical tape is used only as an insulator"!!) Yeah. When that team gets to Nationals with thier tape-coved bolts ... they won't be too happy when the inspectors there say "You need to take that tape off - and file down those bolts by hand." (even though that's what should have been done in the first place!).

Ok, that's my $.02!!

- Katie

[team222badbrad]

I say decrease the size of the robot and keep the same weight therefore making it easier to keep the robot under the weight limit!!! (Maybe by 6 inches?

3v3 would be nice for a change instead of 1v1v1, 2v2, and 4vthemselves!

If First did decrease the size of the robot and kept the field size the same it would allow 6 robots on the field at once.

3v3 would also give you a better chance of winning because if 1 partner dies you still have the other one!

I would like some suggestions/comments!