Official 2005 Clue Thread

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by punkrawker303

George H. Burns -- Sept. 14, 1923

is there another george burns? other then baseball?

There was a George Burns who was a famous comedian (with Gracie Allan) who lived to be about 110.

[Jaine Perotti]

hmm...
John Neun and George Burns were both first basemen. In fact, they were the only first basemen to ever pull off an unassisted triple play.

I think that there are 12 other players that have made unnassisted triple plays. Why these two people and not any of the others? Is it because they were both first basemen?

...does this mean anything?

[laditek]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

While I also can't imagine FIRST abandoning alliances altogether, it may be worth noting that John Neun and George Burns are notable in baseball for having performed unassisted triple plays.

What about the time limit increasing to 3 minutes?????

[David Guzman]

That could be possible...
If it was 3 vs 3 then that would increase the # of team per match which would decrase the time spent in matches. This could lead to more time for each match.

Just a guess but, I dont know. My head hurts.

David

[Steve W]

I don't see a time limit increase. I can see 2x2x2 or 3x3. If 2x2x2 then you could have red and blue scoring objects and the third team would have to score equal of red and blue + purple. Autonomous mode at the beginning gives you your team color. Need to use some sort of sensors to get there. Maybe 50 point bonus at start if autonomous is completed.

[meaubry]

Great clue - very cryptic, I love it!
Me - It just sealed the deal for me. I'm sticking with the Beatles connection, between John and George is Ringo! Looks like its either a "ring toss" game or maybe we put something through a ring to score. Okay - how about we get to toss "pies" through a "ring"-o at Dave! Just kidding - have fun with the clue. I'm serious about "rings".

[Kit Gerhart]

One aspect of the pre-1999 game I don't expect to return is the "two strikes and you're out" format. For those who haven't been around FIRST that long, in '98 and before, there were "seeding matches" that determined where the teams were placed in the matching chart, but the actual competition was double elimination, with three teams per match. There was one winner and two losers per match, so it worked out that nearly half of the teams were eliminated after two matches. From the quarter finals onward, the matches were one on one with a best of three match format in each round.

Winning under the old system was really, really good, as I had the good fortune to experience with TechnoKats in '98, but there were way too many teams who put in all that effort, only to be eliminated after two matches.

[Pin Man]

They would never increase the time in my opinion... Time is already strapped at competitions... Unless.................THEY ADDED IN A WENSDAY FOR COMPETITION!!! hahaha but that wouldn't happen... Wishful thinking... But like Red vs Blue vs Purple? I doubt it... They would keep it Red vs Blue vs White (the colors of first) like it use to be when it was 1 vs 1 vs 1...

Totally off topic: I was thinking how crazy it would be if FIRST made us put video camera's on our robots and made us go in tunnels and such... That wouldn't happen either but it would be cool...

[Swampdude]

OK how's this:

2 hexagonal fields
If you take the current 48' long playing field, plus the length of the drivers stations and bisect it - you could fit 2 hexagon fields in that same space.
NOTE: these 2 fields from above would look like Hexagonal sunglasses.

These 2 fields are run simultaneously. On each field are 3 teams competing against the other fields 3 teams, hence 6 teams running at once. Each field has teams working together hence the amethyst (purple) blue red mix.

In "between" these 2 fields are the drivers stations "you and me". I guess 3 stations facing the center on each field.

We are assembling a "pi" (pie) against the clock and the other field. 3 wedge pieces, then doing something else, but all this against the clock, we have to hit a button to stop the timer to indicate the task is complete, and "we" beat the other field "you". Drivers are back to back, going as fast as they can.

We're going to be building smaller bots this year. Maybe that's why we're getting less motors.

[Pat McCarthy]

If one were to don amethyst colored glasses, would one be able to see IR beams?

Also, when scoring baseball, first base is position number three.

My thoughts.

[Pin Man]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

OK how's this:

2 hexagonal fields
If you take the current 48' long playing field, plus the length of the drivers stations and bisect it - you could fit 2 hexagon fields in that same space.
NOTE: these 2 fields from above would look like Hexagonal sunglasses.

These 2 fields are run simultaneously. On each field are 3 teams competing against the other fields 3 teams, hence 6 teams running at once. Each field has teams working together hence the amethyst (purple) blue red mix.

In "between" these 2 fields are the drivers stations "you and me". I guess 3 stations facing the center on each field.

We are assembling a "pi" (pie) against the clock and the other field. 3 wedge pieces, then doing something else, but all this against the clock, we have to hit a button to stop the timer to indicate the task is complete, and "we" beat the other field "you". Drivers are back to back, going as fast as they can.

We're going to be building smaller bots this year. Maybe that's why we're getting less motors.

hmm... I'm not sure... I see what you're saying... But I think when they say Pi they are referring to cirlces or 3.14............... Or how about like 2 vs 2... One red team and one blue team per field maybe?

[Karthik1]

IR is back defiantly Dave said that in his speech at nationals. IR is going to be big for sure. The Multiplier is back defiantly. It could be like a 3x (maybe). First will not get rid of alliances. There will be two or three team alliances. We wont go back to 1v1v1 because we have so many teams this would simply take too long. First will only increase the number of teams on the field if they were to change it. There is a good possibility that there will be baseballs on the field, and something in the middle of the field that is hard to see.

Some important quotes

Scoring a tripple play or having do arrange something in a way that three out of four things are in a circle is perhaps a possibility. Another gruesome though - perhaps a version of the "Towers of Hanoi" puzzle where alliances have to arrange blue and red (makes purple = amythest) circles on three of four (triple play) sticks.

Intriguing.. I wonder if " between Pi, you and me" has to do with how the IR affects the primary objective of the game. Perhaps 3 comes into play there also.

Rememeber, during last year's Kickoff, when they were talking about the IR beacon's, Dave mentioned that they were stationary, however that had no bearing on THIS year's game.

He implied that there would be moving IR beacons this year.

And they really, really like the autonomous mode stuff. And last year people began to build their strategies around NOT knocking off the ball in autonomous mode. Half the teams I saw didn't do ANYTHING during autonomous mode.

So I bet they're going to make autonomous mode more important this year, somehow. And that involves IR Beacons that are moving.

[Wetzel]

While wearing Amethyst colored glasses, John Neun gave George Burns the following riddle: "Look closely and you will see something between Pi, You and Me."

No more drunken auto balance codes, or teams falling over trying to climb a bar.
The grammer of the riddle needs to better taken apart.
Follow the Beatles.

• The field will be flat

Wetzel

[Swampdude]

Well I still think the "life is short, eat dessert first" is a hint. It just didn't get officialized. So I'm sticking with pie
so we want to be the first the "eat the pie"

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Pin Man

I hope AUTO mode isn't going to be extremely important... For the passed years our robot has done next to nothing in AUTO mode... We try so hard to get it right but we just beat our robot during the comps and everything gets off... Like we don't go straight or whatever... OH NO!!!

Oh, automode is going to be super important! Dave has said that straight out. Well, straight by dave standards.