FRC Field in FLL Game Manual

[Owen Busler]

The FLL game was released today and in the corner of one of the field pictures You can see what appears to be an FRC field... With grey carpet... Was this picture taken on next years field?

Here is the manual look at page 14 picture 3.

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites...-Challenge.pdf

[robochick1319]

If so then that is a next level game hint. CLUES ARE EVERYWHERE.

[dodar]

That's either in the driver's station or there is a field divider on the field.

[Jared]

Originally Posted by dodar

That's either in the driver's station or there is a field divider on the field.

I'm pretty sure this is in the field and we're just looking at a corner.

If we were in the driver station, we'd be able to see some aluminum box tubing running along the ground with the fold down Velcro pads.

[GeeTwo]

Grey carpet is not much of a hint, even if it is the 2016 field. By my calculations, two-thirds of the games so far have had grey-carpeted fields. Based on the FRC_Game_Summaries_Photos for 1992-2002 and the game manuals since (and presuming that "Ground Pepper" is a shade of gray), I count 16 of the first 24 games as having "grey carpet" as the primary surface:

• 1994: Tower of Power
• 1995: Ramp N' Roll (hard to tell; looks like red lights on grey carpet)
• 1996: Hexagon Havoc
• 1998: Ladder Logic
• 1999: Double Trouble
• 2001: Diabolical Dynamics
• 2002: Zone Zeal
• 2003: Stack Attack
• 2004: FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar
• 2005: Triple Play
• 2006: Aim High
• 2007: Rack 'N' Roll
• 2008: FIRST Overdrive
• 2011: LOGO MOTION
• 2013: Ultimate Ascent
• 2014: Aerial Assist

[EricH]

Missed at least one: 2009 had gray carpet. Admittedly, it's easy to miss, but the border of the field--1' or so, as I recall--was gray carpet (this to enable escaping from pins); the carpet was laid out and then the FRP was unrolled on top and secured.

"Ground pepper" is in fact a shade of gray.

Non-gray-carpet fields:
1992, corn kernels
1993 (Rug Rage)--not sure offhand, but almost certainly carpet. Gray or not, not entirely certain.
2010, green carpet (soccer field)
2012, tan carpet (basketball court)

1997 I'm pretty sure was gray carpet.
2000 was DEFINITELY gray carpet.

So, in 24 games, only 3-5 did NOT have gray carpet as the primary surface. 80% or so.

And, just to stir the pot, there has already been a water game. One of the games I listed in this post had water in the game. Anybody want to take a guess?

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by EricH

Missed at least one: 2009 had gray carpet. Admittedly, it's easy to miss, but the border of the field--1' or so, as I recall--was gray carpet (this to enable escaping from pins); the carpet was laid out and then the FRP was unrolled on top and secured.

"Ground pepper" is in fact a shade of gray.

Non-gray-carpet fields:
1992, corn kernels
1993 (Rug Rage)--not sure offhand, but almost certainly carpet. Gray or not, not entirely certain.
2010, green carpet (soccer field)
2012, tan carpet (basketball court)

1997 I'm pretty sure was gray carpet.
2000 was DEFINITELY gray carpet.

So, in 24 games, only 3-5 did NOT have gray carpet as the primary surface. 80% or so.

And, just to stir the pot, there has already been a water game. One of the games I listed in this post had water in the game. Anybody want to take a guess?

2015, red and blue carpet

Edit: The water game was Rug Rage

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by EricH

1997 I'm pretty sure was gray carpet.
2000 was DEFINITELY gray carpet.

According to the pics in the game summary document, 1997 was light blue, and 2000 was tan/cream. It's possible that 2000 they was exposed or processed improperly. 1997 has a stack of toroids, including one white one, in the foreground, so I don't think the color was that far off.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

According to the pics in the game summary document, 1997 was light blue, and 2000 was tan/cream. It's possible that 2000 they was exposed or processed improperly. 1997 has a stack of toroids, including one white one, in the foreground, so I don't think the color was that far off.

2000 was gray. I watched that one at Nationals that year. Gray can look tan/cream in the right lighting. (I summon... The TechnoKat History Project!) (Note that there are some field photos that look tan/cream under game lights, but when people are on the field it's gray.)

1997 shows up as gray as well--reference the 1997 archive from the TechnoKats History Project.

1993, gray--do I need to say where to find photos again?


Taylor, sorry, I was referring to INTENDED use of H2O. Christopher got that part right. Some of the balls in 1993 had water in 'em.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by EricH

Missed at least one: 2009 had gray carpet. Admittedly, it's easy to miss, but the border of the field--1' or so, as I recall--was gray carpet (this to enable escaping from pins); the carpet was laid out and then the FRP was unrolled on top and secured.

It's a nuance, but I suspect the GDC implemented the 1' carpeted 'field border' in 2009 more to provide some friction so robots were less likely to slide into the field walls at 6+ fps all the time.

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

It's a nuance, but I suspect the GDC implemented the 1' carpeted 'field border' in 2009 more to provide some friction so robots were less likely to slide into the field walls at 6+ fps all the time.

If I recall, the stated purpose of the carpet perimeter was to allow pinned robots to have a friction advantage over the pinning opponent. In reality, it mostly just enhanced the field's effectiveness as a Van de Graff generator.

[rsisk]

Apparently there will be many sizes of FRC fields next year, and in a multitude of colors

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by EricH

And, just to stir the pot, there has already been a water game. One of the games I listed in this post had water in the game. Anybody want to take a guess?

2009. Because, as everybody knows, there's water on the moon.
Also very (in)famous pictures of Dean himself applying the water.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Owen Busler

The FLL game was released today and in the corner of one of the field pictures You can see what appears to be an FRC field... With grey carpet... Was this picture taken on next years field?

Here is the manual look at page 14 picture 3.

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites...-Challenge.pdf

It doesn't shock me that they'd set the table up on an FRC field, considering one stays at HQ for the GDC's use.

Alternate hot take: They're trying to give these kids a little taste of pre-last-year FLL at Championship!

[DCA Fan]

If I remember correctly, they've always filmed the FLL stuff on an FRC field. No big hints here, just normal carpet and driver station.