Team Update 1 Posted

[bdaroz]

https://firstfrc.blob.core.windows.n...amUpdate01.pdf

[Bkeeneykid]

This seems particularly relevant to teams designing how fast their robots can shoot:

The capacity of the Low Efficiency GOAL is seventy (70) FUEL. The capacity of the High Efficiency GOAL is one-hundred and fifty (150) FUEL. FUEL that exceeds GOAL capacities will fall back on to the FIELD.

[Foster]

Love this:

Bumpers Included:
Seriously, R3 says bumpers are included in overall robot size this season. For real.

Drawing Omissions:
This year, certain field equipment drawings are excluded because we don’t believe they are relevant to a robot’s interaction with the field, and they may provide a solution to an element of the game challenge.

Interesting concept to hide the details about this for the first 6 weeks. But how do they stop people from looking in the next 7 weeks and making changes?

[pwnageNick]

Originally Posted by 2017 Team Update 1

Drawing Omissions: This year, certain field equipment drawings are excluded because we don’t believe they are relevant to a robot’s interaction with the field, and they may provide a solution to an element of the game challenge.

Doesn't the second half of this sentence contradict the first half? If they aren't relevant to robot interaction then how can they provide a solution to an element of the game challenge.

Emphasis mine on the quote. The only way this sentence makes sense is if the "solution to an element of the game challenge" is in relation to human interaction rather then robot interaction, which I find troublesome.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by pwnageNick

Doesn't the second half of this sentence contradict the first half? If they aren't relevant to robot interaction then how can they provide a solution to an element of the game challenge.

Emphasis mine on the quote. The only way this sentence makes sense is if the "solution to an element of the game challenge" is in relation to human interaction rather then robot interaction, which I find troublesome.

The two boilers are giant fuel hoppers and the GDC has designed a system to remove ALL fuels from these hoppers at a rate of 5 per second. In a controlled enough fashion to accurately count them. I guarantee you there are teams that would LOVE to have details of this design so they can iterate on it and shave weeks off their design time.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

The two boilers are giant fuel hoppers and the GDC has designed a system to remove ALL fuels from these hoppers at a rate of 5 per second. In a controlled enough fashion to accurately count them. I guarantee you there are teams that would LOVE to have details of this design so they can iterate on it and shave weeks off their design time.

And then there's the majority of us who just want to make sure we're practicing in as close to real conditions as possible and want to make sure we know how the sorter/counter affects that.

I'm pretty sure this is FIRST signaling they're not confident their design works yet and they don't want a ton of people complaining when they build said design and it isn't robust.

[guniv]

H15. A pre-populated GEAR may not be removed from its AXLE.
Violation: RED CARD.

Darn! This was gonna be my Q&A question.

[pwnageNick]

Originally Posted by Cory

And then there's the majority of us who just want to make sure we're practicing in as close to real conditions as possible and want to make sure we know how the sorter/counter affects that.

I'm pretty sure this is FIRST signaling they're not confident their design works yet and they don't want a ton of people complaining when they build said design and it isn't robust.

This sounds about right.

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

The two boilers are giant fuel hoppers and the GDC has designed a system to remove ALL fuels from these hoppers at a rate of 5 per second. In a controlled enough fashion to accurately count them. I guarantee you there are teams that would LOVE to have details of this design so they can iterate on it and shave weeks off their design time.

If this is what the statement is referring to (which I believe it is) and it is something I would possibly want to build on my robot then it is effecting robot interaction.

Like Cory said, being able to build an accurate representation of the field is what most teams would like to get out of the drawings.

Also, off the top of my head, I can think of 33 from 2006 who had a similar spinning hopper similar to the boiler. Some info on their design is in the 2006 Design book that was published (similar to the ones that came in the kit last year about 2015 for those not around in 2006).

[Andrew_L]

Originally Posted by pwnageNick

If this is what the statement is referring to (which I believe it is) and it is something I would possibly want to build on my robot then it is effecting robot interaction.

If they didn't want it to be used by teams, they shouldn't have posted it on their facebook.

[bdaroz]

Just a warning: There is a link to the "manual" on the Q&A Site, however it appears as though it is not updated with the team update. (As of this post anyway.)

[Jarren Harkema]

The low efficiency boiler, with a cap of only 70 fuel, looks less and less appealing as time goes on.

[niklas674]

Originally Posted by Jarren Harkema

The low efficiency boiler, with a cap of only 70 fuel, looks less and less appealing as time goes on.

Did it ever look appealing?

[StAxis]

FIRST not publishing the airship makes no sense. Practicing robot to human player timing is important, especially to reliably execute autonomous modes. Plenty of teams will be building their own airships, some unsafely, because they do not have proper drawings.

This doesn't prevent top teams who have the ability to build an airship from succeeding in achieving a "solution" to the game, but it does put young, inexperienced teams at a disadvantage and a risk.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by guniv

Darn! This was gonna be my Q&A question.

They saved you (and the Q&A people) the trouble. That's a good thing.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

The two boilers are giant fuel hoppers and the GDC has designed a system to remove ALL fuels from these hoppers at a rate of 5 per second. In a controlled enough fashion to accurately count them. I guarantee you there are teams that would LOVE to have details of this design so they can iterate on it and shave weeks off their design time.

Count me as one of those people that wants to know how FIRST's system works so I can copy it . Of course, the boilers have a rather large footprint, and there's no guarantee that it can be effectively scaled down within a robot.