Low Cost Field BOM

[Andy Grady]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

Dear Lord, please don't let it be the return of the puck.

I don't mind moving goals, but let's be real here. The puck's been done before. Any changes to it are merely a hop in comparison to the mental leap that post-1999 teams will have to endure. Not only does the game become unfair, but kindof pointless.

I guess I'm just expecting more out of them than another puck. </ rant>

Hey, I've been waiting 4 long years for that puck to return!!! I loved that darn thing! I dont think it would be that redundant if it was multileveled, with a higher platform and no poles to climb. Especially if you had to carry say ohhhh...2 PVC goals onto it?

[Adam Y.]

What is the puck?

[Rob Colatutto]

I'd guess its some hexagonal shaped object that only uses half the casters to keep the cost down since they are $22 each, not exactly cheap. But 5 inch casters? Maybe we finally have a 'hilly' field to play on, now that would be interesting.

What is the puck?

The puck was in the 99' game, it was on casters and had poles sticking up on each corner. You got points for climbing onto the puck at the end of the match or for hanging from a pole. Then the puck also gave points to an alliance depending on what half of the field it was in.

[Skabana159]

There is no way that three casters can account for 7 4x8 sheets of plywood....
I think it can be said with certainty that there will be another ramp/teeter-totter-like feature in the field, and it will be prominent. My money is still on stairs. But three casters is still intriguing.

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

Hey, I've been waiting 4 long years for that puck to return!!! I loved that darn thing! I dont think it would be that redundant if it was multileveled, with a higher platform and no poles to climb. Especially if you had to carry say ohhhh...2 PVC goals onto it?

Thats because you already know how to beat the puck, which proves my point. You know exactly what to build to climb the thing, as opposed to some poor post-99 team that has to deal with figuring that out on top of whatever changes were made to it. So there :-P

[DanL]

The key to figuring out the game is to look at the most random or unique pieces and figure out their uses... in my opinion, that would be the toilet flanges and the carriage bolts.

Now, first of all, what IS a toilet flange? A quick google search came up with this:

Now, there's two of them, plus the PVC pipe. The pipe probably means there's some kind of bar, but if that's the case, why include the toilet flange? In the LOW COST field, why not just drill 3" holes and insert the PVC pipe that way? I think the PVC isn't going to be used for a bar of some sorts. I don't think the flanges/associated PVC is going to serve the same purpose it did for the 2002 field (something to grab onto) because if its meant to be grabbed onto, PVC is going to break eventually. Like they did for 2002 (if my memory serves me correctly), if the piping was meant to be grabbed, it would be steel piping, but the steel piping is only 2" while the flanges are 3".

My guess takes us back to our childhoods: Merry-go-round. The toilet flanges and the PVC pipe act as the central rotating axle. Perhaps there's a ramp that the robots need to climb to get on top then somehow spin the platform? With the described central support axle, I think only 3 castors would be a reasonable amount of outside support for some spinnage. For a moving object, 3 castors is kinda unstable (especially if the object is so big it needs 5" castors), but if you have a central support, 3 castors seems like just the bare minimum needed.

Then there's the 12 pieces of 1-1/2" PVC piping... perhaps a merry-go-round/2002 goal hybrid?

All this speculation is making me dizzy and leaves me with one last question... with all this spinning, where are the frisbees on the bill of materials?


[EDIT]
Back to the 3-castor issue... the 2002 goal had 8 castors each. This shows that in the past, FIRST was concerned about the stability of the moving object. They even didn't just settle for 4 - they went the full nine-yards and did 8. The castors show that something's going to be moving, but the fact that there are only 3 seriously makes me doubt the object isn't going to be supported elsewhere. That and the merry-go-round idea could explain why there's so much plywood on the list.

[Raul]

Not sure about a merry-go-round. But, based on the fact that there are only three casters, I would also guess there is a rotating goal or obstacle.

[Matt Adams]

Originally Posted by SuperDanman

Now, there's two of them, plus the PVC pipe. The pipe probably means there's some kind of bar, but if that's the case, why include the toilet flange? In the LOW COST field, why not just drill 3" holes and insert the PVC pipe that way?

First off, I LOVE your guess. It's so creative!

Why not use 3" holes... perhaps it's a rigidity thing? A PVC flange would probably be able to hold a piece much better than a hole because it's a perfect fit.

Maybe the flange is used as a funnel of sorts if upside down? What about using tenis balls... very tiny objects this year. It'd be a change...

And to me, a steel bar means "robot interaction"... in the past, I don't think that robots have been allowed to handle PVC... what strikes me as odd is that there is 120 FEET of PVC. That is a TON! Since this is the low cost version, this all must be REQUIRED to build the playing field.

Guesses are fun.

Matt

Matt

[OneAngryDaisy]

Hmmm... what about this- there's some kind of stable obstacle in the middle of the field, but the only way you can get atop is to go up stairs, which are mounted on casters?

nah- that won't happen, most matches would end without any robots actually getting up...


but we gotta keep our minds open for additional "playing items"- like the crates last year.. there will most likely still be 'something' for us to sit on during team meetings, fool around with for the first week, and agonize about during competitions

[DanL]

Originally Posted by Raul

BTW - the toilet flange was also used in 2002.

After my post, I went back and edited it for some clarifications. I added that yes, the flange was used in 2002, but it was steel if I remember right, and as Matt Adams stated elegantly, steel means robot interaction. These are PVC flanges, so I doubt the robot will be interacting with these. That's my guess.

IN SUMMARY
1. There's a lot of PVC
2. There's a lot of plywood
3. There's 8lb of screws to go with all that plywood, so lots of construction is going to be needed.
4. There's only 3 castors, but they're super-heavy-duty 5" monsters
5. There are 8 heavy bolts, so assuming the field object is generally symetrical, the number of field object components is going to be either 8 (1 bolt per component), 4 (2 b/c), or 2 (4 b/c). I may be looking in too deep, but since 3 and 6 are not factors of 8, I don't think the field object will be triangular or hexagonal. Rather, I think it will be either 2-sided, 4-sided, or 8-sided.

[SarahB]

Originally Posted by SuperDanman

After my post, I went back and edited it for some clarifications. I added that yes, the flange was used in 2002, but it was steel if I remember right, and as Matt Adams stated elegantly, steel means robot interaction. These are PVC flanges, so I doubt the robot will be interacting with these.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. This is the low cost version we're talking about, its designed to be cheaper but only for individual team use. Maybe the real field has steel but the low cost uses PVC to cut down on cost. Its probably strong enough for individual testing but not for actual competition, thus only on low cost version.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by JVN

Maybe it's a puck with stairs on it? A giant, multileveled puck on wheels....

Lets call it a wedding cake.

Wetzel

[IMDWalrus]

For some reason, I get the feeling that whatever this is we'll be building will be some kind of elevated playing field piece. I remember someone mentioning having extremely tall goals (maybe like 2002, but much taller) as part of the playing field...maybe that's what the PVC is for...

[DanL]

Originally Posted by SarahB

I wouldn't be so sure of that. This is the low cost version we're talking about, its designed to be cheaper but only for individual team use. Maybe the real field has steel but the low cost uses PVC to cut down on cost. Its probably strong enough for individual testing but not for actual competition, thus only on low cost version.

Good point. On the other hand, steel pipe is also on the list... if they felt it was necessary for steel piping in one place, I'd think they'd have steel piping for all the places its necessary. Unless its something crazy like they expect contact with the 3" piping, but less contact than is needed for the 2" piping... I wish I knew.

Either way, I've got a feeling crab drive robots are going to have an advantage this year...

[Andy Grady]

Lets look at the facts...

Fact 1: Last time there was 3 casters on the playing field, there was a rotating triangular goal.

Fact 2: Smaller flanges were used to support the bars on the puck in 99, the goal posts in 2001, and I believe the center post in 2003.

Now the curious parts...

1. Tons of Plywood and 2 x 12 wood.

2. There is a ton of PVC, but there is also 1 length of 2" steel pipe...kinda odd for a low cost field. So it must be important.

3. There are 2 thicknesses of plywood. Thinking maybe the thicker plywood must have some sort of ability to hold multiple 130lb robots.


With the evidence involved, I have come to the conclusion that there is some form of either, A. Multilevel Platform, and 1 Goal on casters or B. A triangular Stairpuck and multiple PVC goals.

My reasoning for A would be due to the fact that there is so much lumber that some form of large structure is going to be on this field. With only 3 casters, it would be hard to make a structure that big work effectively on wheels, so they would have to be part of the goal(s). I would guess multiple goals, so I think the current BOM only shows the materials for 1.

My reasoning for B would be due to the fact that once again, there is alot of plywood and only 3 wheels for the whole playing field. The goal structures would be PVC to protect from long falls, though that would probably work in both cases. The steel bars would act similar to the original puck in 99.

Either way the game should be very interesting.

Good Luck,
Andy Grady