2015 HINT DISCUSSION

[dellagd]

We all know FIRST wasn't very happy with the amount of paper airplanes on the field at eninstied last year, and they said they were going to do something about it. To make it fun for everyone, the new game literally WILL BE recycling. The crowd throws paper airplanes onto the field and the robots have to pick them up as fast as possible and put them into recycling bins.

Alright well one game hint down start the timer for next year

[XenObliv]

The phrase
"Change is Coming."
Could easily refer to the name of the game or maybe a change in the way we play the games. Possibly a change in the alliances or how we compete to get points.
Your thought?

[HelloRobot]

This might be a stretch... but he was standing on the game field, so maybe human players can get be in the field at some point in the game? I know a lot of fouls were called last year because of human players reaching in. So it's just a thought.

Anyway, I think maybe it's got something to do with 3D printing. Several teams got environmentally-friendly 3D printers from Ekocycle, right? And a lot of the discussion has been focused around triangles, yes? Maybe the game pieces will require a specialized "grabbing" or "loading" mechanism that might not be as widely-available, so we have to design it ourselves. It gives the CAD crew a chance to shine, like how auton is kind of the programmers' claim to fame.

I feel like they wouldn't do anything too complex and outrageously different, like change the field design.

Oh,

Originally Posted by Wayne TenBrink

9) The DJ's will not be allowed to play "Cotton Eyed Joe", "YMCA", or "The Chicken Dance"

(*Jams out to Cupid Shuffle, Sandstorm, and La Macarena)

[Duffy509]

I went through the video and didn't see any interactions between human players and the bots. Could they be getting rid of human players as a result of some of the essays and posts about the penalties that were given last year?

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by HelloRobot

This might be a stretch... but he was standing on the game field, so maybe human players can get be in the field at some point in the game? I know a lot of fouls were called last year because of human players reaching in. So it's just a thought.

Due to safety concerns, I can pretty much assure you this will never happen.

[maxwellt]

Originally Posted by BenBraun3090

Can anyone list all the years that they made changes and what they are? that might help if there is a pattern.

I watched the video and here is what I got

1992: First game
1993: Bigger Robots and they go Wireless
1996: Robot's weight increase
1999: Alliances Begin
2001: Robots race against the Clock
2003: Autonomous introduced
2005: 3v3 introduced
2009: Field Surface isn't carpet for the first time since 1992
2010: field back to carpet
2013: Frame perimeter changes (it was an elongated stop sign)
2014: Had side human players to put game pieces back in to play and each alliance could only have one game piece at a time
2015: "Change is Coming" and the 2014 manual is thrown into the Recycling bin

The video at certain points as what was added to the game

[Nemo]

The changes listed included three size/weight constraints (93,96,13), and four related to competition match structure (99,01,03,05).

If the hint is meant to showcase the evolution of robot constraints and match structure, maybe those aspects of FRC will take another significant evolutionary step this year.

Messing around with the match timing structure is definitely something they could do, such the autonomous endgame idea. In fact, they could do an autonomous end game without adding any additional scoring objectives - just figure out a way for the robot to continue playing for the last n seconds.

While 4vs4 seems like an appropriate change, I can't think of a good way to modify the 3v3 alliance structure when the fields have 3 alliance stations on each side. All of the ideas I can brainstorm are problematic. Maybe they use one or both human player stations as a driver's station. One of the robots on a 4 team alliance could be fully autonomous. 4v4 seems unlikely to me, but it would be cool if they have a way to do it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a decreased weight limit. It has gotten easier to stay below 120 lbs, and our frame perimeter decreased. Smaller robots would be safer to lift and would perhaps be slightly less able to damage each other in collisions (unless everyone just gears faster to keep a constant KE=1/2mv^2). I think the rough play from last year could have prompted robot rule changes aimed at reducing robot carnage.

Honestly, the hint should have just said this:
1992-2014: no footballs used as game piece
2015: footballs used as game piece

[JB987]

Google search of "Change is Coming" leads to Youtube video of song with those lyrics and 2 things that stand out..."world is crumbling down....and hold on", so maybe we knock things down like Stack Attack and have another hanging style end game (using last years "recycled" truss)???

[Anstrilator]

Originally Posted by Nemo

The changes listed included three size/weight constraints (93,96,13), and four related to competition match structure (99,01,03,05).

If the hint is meant to showcase the evolution of robot constraints and match structure, maybe those aspects of FRC will take another significant evolutionary step this year.

Messing around with the match timing structure is definitely something they could do, such the autonomous endgame idea. In fact, they could do an autonomous end game without adding any additional scoring objectives - just figure out a way for the robot to continue playing for the last n seconds.

While 4vs4 seems like an appropriate change, I can't think of a good way to modify the 3v3 alliance structure when the fields have 3 alliance stations on each side. All of the ideas I can brainstorm are problematic. Maybe they use one or both human player stations as a driver's station. One of the robots on a 4 team alliance could be fully autonomous. 4v4 seems unlikely to me, but it would be cool if they have a way to do it.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a decreased weight limit. It has gotten easier to stay below 120 lbs, and our frame perimeter decreased. Smaller robots would be safer to lift and would perhaps be slightly less able to damage each other in collisions (unless everyone just gears faster to keep a constant KE=1/2mv^2). I think the rough play from last year could have prompted robot rule changes aimed at reducing robot carnage.

Honestly, the hint should have just said this:
1992-2014: no footballs used as game piece
2015: footballs used as game piece

I can definitely see the footballs thing

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Honestly, the hint should have just said this:
1992-2014: no footballs used as game piece
2015: footballs used as game piece

We should keep in mind the other hint - the KOP hint. Whatever we come up with needs to reconcile with the absurdly long and skinny thing, and I'm not quite sure how football would do that.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

We should keep in mind the other hint - the KOP hint. Whatever we come up with needs to reconcile with the absurdly long and skinny thing, and I'm not quite sure how football would do that.

3x3x60 = football goal posts

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

We should keep in mind the other hint - the KOP hint. Whatever we come up with needs to reconcile with the absurdly long and skinny thing, and I'm not quite sure how football would do that.

Parts for a Football goal post

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by dodar

3x3x60 = football goal posts

Fair enough, but I'd think that goal posts would be possible to make on your own, without FIRST sending you special stuff.

(Not trying to shoot anyone down, just trying to make sure that all the facts are considered.)

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

We should keep in mind the other hint - the KOP hint. Whatever we come up with needs to reconcile with the absurdly long and skinny thing, and I'm not quite sure how football would do that.

The long package is just weird. Could just be pool noodles because volunteers are sick of teams showing up without bumpers, or it could be a roll of the new hyper-durable/low density unobtanium field surface.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

Due to safety concerns, I can pretty much assure you this will never happen.

WRONG! In 2003, the HPs were on the field, every single match.

However, the robots were disabled while the humans were on the field.

Originally Posted by Wyatt Jordan

Also for the 2001 game Diabolical Dynamics the subtitle was "Robots race against the clock" you're telling me none of the challenges before that had a time limit? How did they end? Can someone check this for me, did you have to score a certain amount to end the game?

You're reading it wrong, but I can't blame you because you weren't there (at least, I'm pretty sure you weren't). In all games before and since, there was a time limit to how long the game went, and you competed against your opponents to score the most points. In 2001, there were NO opponents except the clock. 4v0. Also, one of the least-liked FRC games of all time.