What do you want to see in this years game?

[daniel_dsouza]

Originally Posted by AlexH

more defensive play and a more entertaining end game.

Flying minibots...

And I know this will never happen because it isn't safe, economical, or even the best idea...but it would be entertaining.

[roystur44]

Wiffle balls, hill climb, 3 robot balance on a round ramp

[glennword]

I agree with a couple of the people before me about a hill climb/obstacle course. There are a lot of real world applications to abot that can simply carry something over rough terrain. I was thinking a speed aspect would also be cool, ie you get extra points if you ferry a gamepiece to the other side in under ten seconds.

Another idea is variable terrain, possibly a buch of pieces that can be easily knocked down to incur penalties. Or small domes that can be moved around before each match and locked into place, so as to create obstacles which bots either have to go over around. A small variation on this might be urban terrain, ie doors, stairs, walls, bumps/curbs.

Something else that would be cool is the other team being able to take your pieces away, and the final score is decided by how many pieces you still have on your side.

[mwmac]

A stacking game with game pieces based on the First logo shapes, ie. triangle extrusion, cylinder, cube.

[Jon Stratis]

I've been hearing people say "a stacking game" for 6 months now, and I agree, that does seem to make sense... but I also think it's a little too obvious to have a game centered around stacking game pieces.

Given the recent patterns, any sports-related games/game pieces are out (so footballs and frisbees, both of which would be pretty awesome) for this year. I also think tubes are out... we've seen them twice in the past 6 years, it'll take another year or two before we see them again.

I would like to see them do something with a wall in the middle of the field - there's a portion of the field that your drivers can't see directly, where you can score points. This could be assisted with the camera and/or with the human player, who could gesture from across the field where that area is visible.

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

I would like to see them do something with a wall in the middle of the field - there's a portion of the field that your drivers can't see directly, where you can score points. This could be assisted with the camera and/or with the human player, who could gesture from across the field where that area is visible.

I like the idea as long as it is spectator friendly. Obstructed viewing for drivers can sometimes mean obstructed views for fans. Many regional stadiums are in the "end zone" of hockey/basketball arenas and spectators are viewing over the heads of the drivers.

This last season we learned that vision processing was difficult, only handled well by a few teams. Viewing unprocessed video on the driver's station was fairly common though.

[gyroscopeRaptor]

I think I've said this quite a few times by now, but there needs to be a much more convincing reason for Kinect usage. Offering points for using it is not the way to go. A competitive advantage, likely from being able to react to a changing situation, is the best way* to do it. I believe that autonomous with Kinect would be best done in an autonomous mode like Aim High or Lunacy, where all robots would move at eachother and being able to have some control, or at the very least a mode switcher, would be the best choice. An Overdrive-style hybrid mode, where the hybrid control would be used to compensate for randomness in the game is not the best way to use it, as it encourages programming the Kinect as nothing more than a mode switcher.

TL;DR: If Kinect's in, it would be best used where actual control is needed.

[rcmolloy]

Tetras and Hanging Bars would make a good game in my opinion.

[Bstep]

I think it would be interesting if there was an obstacle course for the minibots (alongside normal game play). The minibots would begin the course at the start of the game and would use the duration of the game to autonomously navigate the course. It would be cool to see 120 pound robots with exotic drive trains for navigating a complicated course, but to include the rookie teams along side veterans it is more plausible to do it on the minibot scale.

[RedLeader342]

i think it will have to do with stacking boxes. recently first has had a pattern of frc games being similar to the previous years ftc game or an older game. this year it could be both. however to see something with frisbees would be awesome. like was stated earlier though it would be hard to make sure they didnt fly out of the field

[216Robochick288]

Originally Posted by daniel_dsouza

Flying minibots...

And I know this will never happen because it isn't safe, economical, or even the best idea...but it would be entertaining.

You said that and part of me died inside. As if climbing robots werent hard enough, lets make them fly.... --eek--

[Robert Cawthon]

Originally Posted by daniel_dsouza

Flying minibots...

And I know this will never happen because it isn't safe, economical, or even the best idea...but it would be entertaining.

How about a tethered flying minibot? That way it can't go too far and the power can be supplied by the main bot.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by Robert Cawthon

How about a tethered flying minibot? That way it can't go too far and the power can be supplied by the main bot.

ugh, that sounds worse than the wires clumped in my desktop.

[George1902]

Originally Posted by Robert Cawthon

How about a tethered flying minibot? That way it can't go too far and the power can be supplied by the main bot.

As long as I can just extend a tape measure into the air...