[FRC Blog] 2014 Game Hint

[Skidzoo]

Originally Posted by gavmac928

...keep in mind that his drawing is just one speculation, and that the bottom square could also be a pyramid.

I actually factored the pyramid base in when I was originally coming up with my theory (with the same explanation as below), but now that I think about it, the pyramid base could also be applied to another scenario.

In both cases, a pyramid base would prevent a robot that runs into the base from having its parts jarred lose by running into an edge, and it wouldn't shake the pole as much as a flat piece of metal, although a flat base a few centimeters higher than the ground should not have much of an effect on the robot's functionality (but who knows). The other advantage of having a pyramid base is that it allows round objects to roll down its slopes, so a pyramid base could mean that there are a lot of small, round objects (or one big one). Either way, the slope helps round objects roll off the base.

Now, for the two possibilities:

1) The tee-ball version. For the sake of saving space, refer back to my earlier post if you forget or haven't seen it.

2) A fill-the-basket scenario: If there are a lot of small game pieces, that probably means that there is a bucket or some sort of container (the sphere with a hole in the top) that needs to be filled with those aforementioned game pieces (probably a small-diameter ball, like a tennis ball or a golf ball). The sloped sides would make any pieces that don't make it into the bucket go back out onto the field, where you pick them up again.

I personally like the tee-ball idea more, though.

Also, it's late and I have been thinking about this for a long time, so there are probably some gaps in my logic, and I think that explanation might not be as clear as I thought it was... if you see any problems or are confused, just tell me and I will be happy to explain again or rethink my theory.