Water Game Next Year?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by bduddy

(I wouldn't be surprised if one day, there was a game involving water in some way (not the whole field, for sure!)...

1993. Some of the balls on the field had water inside.

[Jaxom]

Originally Posted by btslaser

The KOP contains 3 pairs of rubber boots and 3 offical FRC towels. It would certainly be exciting.

Nice....although don't you think we might need snorkels as well?

You would, however, also add to the volunteer position list. "Lifeguard" would be important, right?

[MAldridge]

Originally Posted by Jenn Feathers

but still atleast 6" thick acrylic walls would be needed to hold back the water, take a hit from the robots, and give the audience a clear view of whats going on under the water. perfectly clear 6" thick acrylic is quite expensive.

yes, but 0.5" thick transparent aluminum would work just fine...

[Gigakaiser]

This thread is still going on...

[G.Arizpe]

Originally Posted by KevinGoneNuts

But with this year also being a sport year, the next year will be completely random, so something relating to water, but not water itself, is possible.

I agree that next year will be something out of the ordinary, like was 2009's game of Lunacy. And messing with robots is expensive enough and fund-draining for new teams, but adding water will make for unnecessary waste of money on developing a new water-proof KOP.

[Steve-Man]

Next year's game will be a wildcard for sure, as it's (Probably) a non-sport based game.

However, the legendary water game is in a deck of it's own. As with the flying game. (Both of which can be found elsewhere in non FRC/FTC based robotics challenges)

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I'm curious; when did the "water game" meme begin? It would be interesting to trace it back to its roots. Considering the age of Chief Delphi, it would actually be a really early meme, as they go.

I am very new to FIRST myself, but I was told by one of the other mentors that the water game meme goes back to the earliest days of FIRST, and was already quite prevent during colonial times. Incidentally I was also told that Dean Kamen's grandfather may have suggested the idea of a water game while accepting the first innovation award (called the concoction award at the time) for building a robot out of spruce, and controlling it with a pole. Up until that point the robots were supposedly built almost exclusively from corn husks.

[techhelpbb]

I'm pretty sure this joke has been around since at least 1998.

Then again increasingly a lot of you haven't been around since 1998.

Hobbles off with my cane.

[Jenn Feathers]

Originally Posted by MAldridge

yes, but 0.5" thick transparent aluminum would work just fine...

can that hold up to being hit and what about props chopping through it?

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by RobotMom

Don't forget... plenty of kids are always new to FIRST and/or Chief Delphi ~ it isn't old to everyone.

I've heard this question brought up many times from members of our team. Although impractical... I love hearing them "dream big".

I'm still fairly early in my FIRST career, but even I'm tired of it a little.

On another note, I would be very interested to see another game like Overdrive where the robots themselves act as scoring pieces sometime other than the endgame (obviously they do this year and have many times recently.

[KevinGoneNuts]

Originally Posted by Ekcrbe

I'm still fairly early in my FIRST career, but even I'm tired of it a little.

On another note, I would be very interested to see another game like Overdrive where the robots themselves act as scoring pieces sometime other than the endgame (obviously they do this year and have many times recently.

I have a feeling the end game will probably stay for a while. It adds an element to the game that gives more teams the ability to actually compete. Many teams just focus on the endgame, because not all teams have the capabilities to score in teleop.

[EricH]

The endgame has been a factor since... Since... since alliances were introduced!

Since 1999, where your robot ends up at the end of the match has been worth points, with two exceptions: 2008, where it was where the trackballs ended up, and 2009, where the Supercells were in play. 2005's wasn't used much, because it was for all three robots or none, and you could easily beat it with some clever tetra placement.

Therefore, I make a prediction on the 2013 game: the 2013 game will include some form of endgame (item that only scores points in the last X seconds of teleop or after time expires).

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by MAldridge

yes, but 0.5" thick transparent aluminum would work just fine...

Originally Posted by Jenn Feathers

can that hold up to being hit and what about props chopping through it?

Well, there is an armor grade version which can withstand multiple hits from .50 caliber rounds without being penetrated, but I'm not sure if it retains its water holding abilities. Also, the manufacturer claims that it "can be cost effectively scaled to high volumes," but that doesn't mean that the cost would be affordable. According to Wikipedia, the AG version is 10-15 dollars per square inch which makes it the most expensive 'bullet proof' window material.

[kylelanman]

Bill stopped by our pit at the QCR and we were talking about various things with him. The question was raised how he thought the mini-bots worked out. He fired the same question back. We gave him our opinion. In general more on the negative side. He then told us sarcastically that next years game was going to be a water game with mini-bots. Needless say he pretty much said neither was going to happen.

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by KevinGoneNuts

I have a feeling the end game will probably stay for a while. It adds an element to the game that gives more teams the ability to actually compete. Many teams just focus on the endgame, because not all teams have the capabilities to score in teleop.

I'm not advocating the axing of the endgame, I only proposed a change to the main game setup, in a way that makes it somewhat like the usual endgame. Obviously the game would include more than just going to the goal and staying there, robots would be able to score and move on to continue playing. I would be interested to see what kind of endgame the GDC would come up with.