2017 FTC Game

[s3529]

Hello everyone! The countdown to the FTC game reveal is now less than 7 days.

I'm sure that if you've been following @FTCTeams on Twitter, you've probably already seen their "Kickoff is Coming" video. If not, it's available here:
https://twitter.com/FTCTeams/status/771707695556616192


At first, this may seem like a funny little video with "Tyler" getting down with his bad self in celebration of kickoff. But, if you look closer, you will see some interesting details.


For example, on the right of the screen, you can see a recycling container filled with, what appears to be, soda bottles. This could be a reference to the Recycle Rush FRC season. During that year, both FRC, FLL, and Jr. FLL all were related to garbage and recycling, but not FTC, which competed in FIRST RES-Q.

Next, looking on the ground, we see our friend Plowie (or Dozer, depending upon who you ask) slowly creeping away from Tyler. Looking at the workbench, we can see the FTC logo along with a drill press and beacon from last year's game. As we now know, the beacons will be making a return this year.

However, look carefully at the image over Tyler's shoulder. It appears to be a squid or octopus themed robot. Each year, in the game animation, there is always a unique robot suited to play that year's game, such as the mountain goat in last year's FIRST RES-Q. Could this be a hint that we will need multiple manipulators? Or is it saying that we will need to multitask? Or to use jet propulsion underwater? (WATER GAME CONFIRMED)

The most interesting part of this video is the two pictures to the left of the drill press. First, what appears to be a picture of country-western superstar Dolly Parton. Specifically, from her latest album "Pure & Simple" which released earlier this August. Then, if you look at the calendar, you will see that September 10th is circled, indicating kickoff. More interestingly, we have a picture of famed physicist Richard Feynman sitting with his bongos.

What does it all mean? I haven't a clue. But, to sum it up, here is what we have so far:

• Recycling
• Soda Bottles
• An Octopus
• Dolly Parton
• and Richard Feynman Playing Bongos

Can you piece together a game using these hints?

[WinterPoet]

I just want to say that I've now read Dolly Parton's entire wikipedia page, which was not something I expected to do. As far as the Dolly hint, this new album is her 43rd, which may be a hint. It also includes 4 remade songs, which in an album of 12 is a pretty big chunk. Could this imply that FIRST is going to do something similar in theme to an old challenge?

As far as Feynman, whose wikipedia page I also scoured, I draw a blank. He worked in physics with some of the properties of supercooled liquid helium. He was discriminating against for Jewish heritage despite not practicing. He was often perceived as rude. I can't make any information about him in general relevant. Although, I think it's telling that they chose a picture of him with his bongos. His bongo habits are referenced in the Big Bang Theory episode "The Werewolf Transformation". The episode title could be a hint, or it could be in the numbers. It's season 5, episode 18, and the 105 episode in total.

I have no idea how this would all connect, and I honestly don't know much about FTC. Since it's so close to their kick-off, I wouldn't stress over finding the answers, but this was kinda fun.

[orangemoore]

I'm gonna say that you should take a look at previous posts that FTC has made between champs and now.

(Hint: You will notice a lot of language that is just a little out of place )
That might just give you more hints about what the game will have you do.


Happy Hunting!

[cadandcookies]

Another interesting thing is the inclusion of the Vuforia library in the FTC SDK. If you aren't familiar with it, Vuforia is owned by PTC (I actually spent a decent chunk of my summer working with it as an intern there) and is used for a variety of augmented reality purposes, including 3D object recognition, 2D image recognition, and recognition of VuMarks (image targets embedded in logos).

I could definitely see there being a VuMark on the field for autonomous or targeting purposes, given that PTC is such a huge sponsor of FIRST Tech Challenge. It will be interesting if there is some sort of vision target, because since webcams are still illegal (I think, based on the released rules), you'll have to mount your phone so the camera can actually see. I'd also caution teams using Vuforia that it is very compute intensive, and will drain your battery quickly. Might want to invest in a portable battery pack so you can be constantly charging in between matches.

[Isonine]

I'm just throwing this out there

Treehouse

[messer5740]

Mind == blown;

[bobbysq]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I'd also caution teams using Vuforia that it is very compute intensive, and will drain your battery quickly. Might want to invest in a portable battery pack so you can be constantly charging in between matches.

Are on-board computers allowed? If so, you could offload the vision processing to one with its own camera.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

Are on-board computers allowed? If so, you could offload the vision processing to one with its own camera.

No, per RE17 (PDF link, page 33)

[BMiller2559]

Well as I see it, it is either we will be utilizing theories from Feynman's Parton Model of Particle Physics or Championships will be held at Dollywood

[QuatroDoesGood]

I have a feeling this has to do something with the 1960s.
In the FRC blog post earlier hinting to that scifi theme they mentioned Cybermen and A space odyssey which were both from the 1960s.

They also mentioned at the end of the post about Fried Pickles which according to its wikipedia page became popular in the 1960s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_pickle

And on top of that Dolly Parton and Richard Feynman were also popular in the 1960s

The date has reoccurred too many times to be a coincidence.

[Jalerre]

Originally Posted by QuatroDoesGood

I have a feeling this has to do something with the 1960s.
In the FRC blog post earlier hinting to that scifi theme they mentioned Cybermen and A space odyssey which were both from the 1960s.

They also mentioned at the end of the post about Fried Pickles which according to its wikipedia page became popular in the 1960s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_pickle

And on top of that Dolly Parton and Richard Feynman were also popular in the 1960s

The date has reoccurred too many times to be a coincidence.

You know what else happened in the 1960s? The Apollo 11 lunar landing (July 1969). FTC Lunacy #confirmed

[bobbysq]

Originally Posted by BMiller2559

Well as I see it, it is either we will be utilizing theories from Feynman's Parton Model of Particle Physics

So it seems that this (referring to the particles) and the FRC related hints (referring to the yoga balls) were what came into play.

[BMiller2559]

I was really hoping for Dollywood.