[FTC]: Discrepancies between Game Video and Field Setup Guide

[wgardner]

Hi All,

The official forums don't seem to be open yet (at least I see no team login and password on my team summary pages yet). I thought I'd share some thoughts on discrepancies I noticed between the game video and the field setup guide that caused us some confusion.

#1. From the field setup guide page 19, if you are looking at the kickstand with your alliance color, then your alliance's center goal should be to the left side of the center structure.

The very first shot of the field in the game video at 3:21 has it wrong! The blue alliance center goal is shown on the right of the blue alliance kickstand. It's also shown incorrectly at time 3:34, but correctly at times 3:28 and 3:45.

#2. There is no white tape on the official field, and the 3 center structure rotations are NOT 45 degrees from each other as shown in the video! In particular, the middle rotation shown in the game video at 3:47 is NOT correct. Page 19 of the field setup guide states that the middle rotation should have one edge of the center structure parallel with the perimeter, resulting in a rotation more like 60deg and less like 45deg.

#3. The orientations of the rotations shown for the center structure from 3:45 to 3:48 in the video are wrong! Page 19 of the field setup guide specifically states that the kickstands should rotate around the 90deg pointing at an alliance's ramp/platform, which results in the center goals rotating around the 90deg pointing at the initial starting points of the opposing alliance's rolling goals. The video shows the rotations being completely different with the kickstands rotating towards the rolling goals and the center goals rotating towards the ramp/platforms!

Essentially, the first rotation at 3:45 in the video is correct, but from there the two other rotations should be rotating COUNTER-CLOCKWISE from above, not CLOCKWISE from above as shown in the video!

Why do these matter?

#1 matters because if done correctly, each alliances kickstands AND center goals will always face their alliance side or at worst be perpendicular to the alliance sides. If done incorrectly, an alliance's center goal could end up facing away from an alliance! This would make autonomous center goal scoring virtually impossible and autonomous center goal defense very easy.

#2 matters because you may need to know the exact amounts of rotation of the center structure for any autonomous kickstand-knocking or center-goal-scoring.

#3 matters because you won't find the kickstands or center goals anywhere near where they're shown in the video for the 2nd and 3rd rotations in an actual match! Check page 19 of the field setup guide for their actual positions in the 3 rotations.

BTW, I really hope that the field setup guide is correct and that the video is wrong, because that would result in kickstands and goals pointing towards the starting position of an alliance making autonomous offense easier and autonomous defense harder. If the video is right, then autonomous center goal scoring is likely to be nearly impossible as the center goal would be pointing away from an alliance's starting positions!

Good luck to all teams!