Who started building before Kickoff?

[RobotFunster]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

While rules change every year, this one has been constant. R12 states "Physical ROBOT elements created before kickoff are not permitted".

Interresting. A local team that our group visited in Dec. was working on the base of their competition robot.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by RobotFunster

Interresting. A local team that our group visited in Dec. was working on the base of their competition robot.

Was it something they ended up using, or was it actually something they were building for practice and experience? My team spent half the summer and the entire fall working on a chassis and drive train for swerve, just for the experience. It would be easy for someone visiting to think that work was for this season, and not just experience and practice.

[mrnoble]

We built three drive bases in the off season this year, one for our absolute beginners (2014 kitbot), one for intermediates (mecanum), and one for advanced (8wd West Coast). The experience was invaluable for the entire team, and we will do it again next year. And two of those bots ended up deeply influencing our design for the game this year.

But no team should ever, ever build a drive base (or create parts or programs) for the upcoming game before kickoff, with the exception of OPEN SOURCE, SHARED resources that the team develops and shares within the FRC community.

[Zflash]

Not sure which of the other Greenville teams you visited, however what everyone is saying above is true no building is allowed prior to kickoff.

Hopefully there was a misunderstanding.

On to the topic of a new rookie for 2016 besides somewhere in Greenville where will this new rookie team be based out of?

[Pretzel]

Originally Posted by RobotFunster

Interresting. A local team that our group visited in Dec. was working on the base of their competition robot.

They could have merely been developing the drive base in the off-season that they planned to use during the competition. They would still have to physically build a second one, but they could use the design (provided it was made public before kickoff) of their development chassis to help them refine the one they will use in competition.

[SC4FLL]

[quote=RobotFunster;1446930]Interresting. A local team that our group visited in Dec. was working on the base of their competition robot.

Robots can't be built before the game is announced. Most would find it impossible to guess what would be needed. Are you sure it was the competition base? Many teams practice building but as far as I know, no one would risk a DQ and build early.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by SC4FLL

Are you sure it was the competition base? Many teams practice building but as far as I know, no one would risk a DQ and build early.

That would be one major DQ, too. Only every match at the event, unless HQ intervened, and alliance partners would get them too if the robot made it to the field.

Let me put it this way, though: It's a major enough foul to act as a significant deterrent. However, actually getting it called would take a really, really good look at the team's build. And even getting that going would mean first saying that two team members have deliberately put their signature on a document saying that they did NOT start before Kickoff, knowing that they did in fact start before Kickoff. I highly doubt that FIRSTers would do that... but it takes all kinds to make a world, so there's the possibility, slim though it may be.


I agree with the rest: 99% chance of it being a prototype. I know my team built one drivebase and had another frame built in the offseason... And I know that neither one is on a competition robot.

[dtengineering]

Games like this year, and 2009's Lunacy are one of the things I really like about FIRST. They shake up the rules to the point where you can't actually start building before the game is announced because you really don't know what you are going to have to build.

I keep waiting to see the playing field carpet get replaced by an inch of pea gravel or something like that.

Ask yourself if they really were working on their competition drive base, how did they know how big to make it? How did they know where the bumpers were supposed to attach? How did they know what kind of bumps or obstacles it would have to drive over? How did they know how to best gear it to win pushing battles with opposing robots?

Thank you GDC, for keeping everyone honest!

Jason

[JohnFogarty]

Which shop did you visit? I have a feeling I know who you visited, and you are mistaken about them working with the drive-train that you saw when you visited their shop.

They fabricated a whole new one once the game was released. Like all the above posts have stated, you cannot use pre-kickoff parts/drivetrains on your 2015 robot.

[IronicDeadBird]

This thread makes for some weird reading and gives off even weirder vibes. If you suspect foul play is at hand then you should ask for clarification from that team and if it looks bad go to FIRST. The rules about designing and building in the off season are very clear cut.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

I keep waiting to see the playing field carpet get replaced by an inch of pea gravel or something like that.

It wouldn't be the first time. The initial game, Maize Craze, was played on a field of corn kernels. I would consider this as "something like" pea gravel.