IRI - 2015 Rule Modification Ideas?

[BL0X3R]

Originally Posted by mman1506

Pretty much any robot with a stabilizer won't be able to handle more than 6 properly (1114, 2056, 254, 118, 4488, 148...)

we have a stack stabilizer? I need to go to our meetings more often... [/sarcasm]

[Carolyn_Grace]

Every match, each alliance gets one hollow litter that's been stuffed with PVC.

Keep litter rules.

Watch dominoes happen.

[Scott Kozutsky]

I like the litter rule where you can put more than one per green bin. This effectively makes noodle throwing meaningless/suboptimal.

To add to this, robots should be allowed to return litter to their opponents. I'm frustrated that the GDC introduced a gamepiece, then removed any play/counterplay that could have gone with it.

I think that changing the field too drastically would result in basically just a new game. The game isn't designed for your robots, your robots are designed for the game.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

Every match, each alliance gets one hollow litter that's been stuffed with PVC.

Keep litter rules.

Watch dominoes happen.

This is similar to a rule idea that got brought up for the Rumble in the Roads. Since our theme is based on the Battle of Hampton Roads and the battle of the Ironclads give each alliance a "cannonball" or 2 (something like a dodgeball) that they can throw at any point in the match. The only rule is they have to yell "BOOM" when throwing it.

[dubiousSwain]

give each alliance 10 cans to replace their noodles that can act as both cans and noodles

they can also be thrown in the last 20 seconds

[Alex2614]

I'm interested to see how many ramps come out of the usual 5 additional pounds.

[Ichlieberoboter]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

This is similar to a rule idea that got brought up for the Rumble in the Roads. Since our theme is based on the Battle of Hampton Roads and the battle of the Ironclads give each alliance a "cannonball" or 2 (something like a dodgeball) that they can throw at any point in the match. The only rule is they have to yell "BOOM" when throwing it.

REALLY like this idea. I propose (and someone probably already suggested this) that you just take out the step entirely. Allow team to go to the other side of the field. You would of course have to enforce bumpers but you could allow teams to have that outside of the transport configuration. Alliances could go bowl over other stacks, yes, but they would also have to try to make/protect their own stacks, which would make for quite a challenge.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Ichlieberoboter

REALLY like this idea. I propose (and someone probably already suggested this) that you just take out the step entirely. Allow team to go to the other side of the field. You would of course have to enforce bumpers but you could allow teams to have that outside of the transport configuration. Alliances could go bowl over other stacks, yes, but they would also have to try to make/protect their own stacks, which would make for quite a challenge.

You could ban touching the scoring platform of the opposing alliance. That would also allow a team with a stack to try and "run away" over the scoring platform, while ensuring that things don't get too out of hand.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by asid61

You could ban touching the scoring platform of the opposing alliance. That would also allow a team with a stack to try and "run away" over the scoring platform, while ensuring that things don't get too out of hand.

At this point, every team in FRC designed their robots without the possibility of defensive interaction in mind. This changed how we built many, many mechanisms this year, and I'm sure it did for nearly every other team. You can't just put defense back into the game and expect everything to work out without teams needing to change designs.

[Ryan Barnhart]

IMO, the most entertaining bits to watch involved interaction between opposite alliances, namely the tug of war games between two can burglars. I think that by increasing robot operation range to the opponent's landfill or even auto zone would make for more entertaining matches. Alongside this, transfer of game pieces between sides of the field should be removed.

With this, other revisions would have to be made, limiting the amount of interference a team could to an opposing alliance stack. Maybe include a new foul for contacting a game piece on the opponent's scoring platform.

[Jpatterson1710]

Unlimited (or at least increased) availability of totes from alliance station. I could see two powerhouse teams pulling 70+ totes from behind the wall, while another team clears most of the landfill. While there wouldn't be enough cans to cap those, it would be interesting to see all those stacks and how they fit it all on the platforms.

[CalTran]

It'd be messy, and I imagine that the refs would hate it, but what about extending the Alliance Station, but not the HP station, around the corner of the field a bit so that when teams fill up the near Scoring Platform, they can run a coach around the corner to go direct from there? There was at least one match that 148 absolutely filled up the near platform and appeared to render 1114 landfill eating less effective than usual.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by CalTran

It'd be messy, and I imagine that the refs would hate it, but what about extending the Alliance Station, but not the HP station, around the corner of the field a bit so that when teams fill up the near Scoring Platform, they can run a coach around the corner to go direct from there? There was at least one match that 148 absolutely filled up the near platform and appeared to render 1114 landfill eating less effective than usual.

I think that this is just part of the game. Placing your stacks in such a way that drivers can still see, or using vision on the robot, is a very important aspect of Recycle Rush.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

I think that this is just part of the game. Placing your stacks in such a way that drivers can still see, or using vision on the robot, is a very important aspect of Recycle Rush.

True, but I hope that at IRI, there's a few matches where teams just straight up fill up the scoring platforms end-to-end. 148 can easily fill up over half a platform by themselves, and I imagine with another amazing Feeder Station robot they could fill up the entire close platform.

[Adam Freeman]

Lets just trim each match down to the 15s auto period.

We can all work all summer long to create either the most awesome "Wave-like" tote stack / can grabbing machine... or the worlds fastest and baddest Recycling Container yanking device.

The rest of the match is just a pain in the butt to play anyways, lets trim the fat and do what is most exciting.

I was most excited about every Division Playoff and Einstein match at the beginning, usually just the first 0.5-1s.

We could probably play a lot more matches, or get done faster for more time for extracirricular activities.

-Adam