What are you going to do to your Human player?

[tkwetzel]

Originally Posted by bigqueue

Software people have had the secret for years now:

A steady diet of Jolt Cola and Twinkies....

[Sarcasm]That would be especially great this year...let's get them all wired up so they can't stand still on the pressure mat![/Sarcasm]

[Winged Wonder]

our "human" player is frank. he is made out of legos.

joking aside, our human players (and drivers) are taking a written test on the rules (so we dont have to get mad at them for breaking any rules) and the HPs trying out will be doing "suicides" like football players do; except they will run one way with a tetra, place it on the robot or whatever, and run back to the pressure pad and STAY there.. without overshooting. i think overshooting may be a big deal.. actually stopping after running x amount of time actually can get kind of hard due to momentum. so our human player has to get from point A to point B back to point A without killing themselves, the robot, or any other human players. we'll have backups of course, in the event of an emergency.

what if you accidentally ran into an alliance member's HP, therefore rendering both of your robors disabled since the HPs will be tangled on the floor along with some tetras? ...that would be bad.

also, the way the HP stations are set up, you're at a serious disadvantage if you are the 3rd HP; you're farther away than the other two HPs from the loading stations, and if you have to run to the loading station closest to the center of the playing field, that looks like a little over 25 feet of running!

umm... does anyone know how long the delay is (if there is any delay at all) between the time when the human player steps on the pad and when the robot is no longer disabled? just being electical.. it cant be INSTANT... there should be a little delay, just thinking logically. and if some team just so happens to jump on it.. i dont know it just makes me think of an old DDR pad.. the more you step on the same part, as time goes on, sometimes it doesnt like you and wont register that you actually pressed it (therefore ruining your AA). but i dont know thats just me placing my two cents on things to consider...

[Omni L]

welll, Our team's HP is will most likely end up bound, or maybe just tied to the pressure plate... somehow I just can't see anyone on our team standing still long enough to allow our robot to keep moving.
Autonomous loading sounds great, but think about how much each tetra weighs, and how far from the field they are...

[lpramo55]

I agree. i think the auto loading zone would be of more benefit depending on the ability of your robot. you might stack tetra's on your bots manipulator to put a stack on top of a goal by leaving the human loading zone then reentering that would be quite time consuming though. i dont see the benefit in any other way.

[Bcahn836]

Team 836's human player runs cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and he is tall. And he continues to run when the running season is over. He kinda got volunteered for this job.

[JasJ002]

Well I only know what one of our human players does. He runs track 6 times a week, speed skates 3 times a week. And before nationals he'll be spending a week in the mountains of colorado training for the upcoming professional speed skating season. By the way that human player is me .

[Omni L]

Ok, i don't know if any of you are aware of this, but FIRST has said that the human player will not be 'handing' the robot a tetra in one of thier updates, i'd imagine that this was to prevent any injuries from opposing robots.

[Stephen P]

Wonder if you could rig up a system on your bot that would eject casters or go into neutral so that the bot could coast into the loading area after being shut off. You could give your human a head start for quicker loading times.

[Bernardo F]

Originally Posted by cinderblock

Unless I'm mistaken, it'll be much more effective to just get the tetras from the auto loader, i mean, to latch onto the tetra and all, it would be easier to make to robot do the grabbing instead of human player doing the giving.

Isn't it also possible to grab a tetra from the auto loader, back up, then grab the next tetra while holding on to the first?

[Han Tzu]

Originally Posted by tkwetzel

The human players do not need to be fast runners. Considering the short distance, they will not get up to running speed by the time they get to the robot or back to the pressure pad. They will just need to be quick in manuervering, because turning around will be the part that takes more time. I also liked the comment that long legs would be beneficial, because they probably would be.

This year, our human player won't be doing much. We think it would be better to let the robot do the work. So we have to find somebody on our team who can stand still for long periods of time...this must be what takes six weeks, finding that someone.

[Goober!!!]

Are team is going to loading on the self loading place thingy that is on the other side of the human loading place so my team human player is just going to stand there for the hole time. haha laugh at my team mate and hope its not me and it might be me lol!!!

[Lil' Lavery]

Several distance shuttle runs. Cus well, there are 6 different runs they will have to do(3 player pads x 2 loading stations), and forcing them to stand still. Yay for those who are not only in track, but also marching band! Go Baxter go!

[sdexp]

Our human player will feature the capabilities required in a sprinter. When the robot is in motion, this person will remain calm and avoid expressions of calamity. However, upon any arrivals to the human player zone, this human player will quickly take a tetra over to the robot.

[Dan-o]

I keep wondering when first will begin to let teams use a robot as the "human player" as long as it is constructed in under 6 weeks, and fits the size and weight restrictions of the competition.

Wow, i didn't realize how cool that would actually be until i wrote it down.... So Dean, can we have a competition where 2 bots are used?

..... runs off thinking of 2 robot game ideas.....

[663.keith]

we ha a human player who was good at track, and was pretty much perfect for the role. Unfortunately, last monday the (possibly) broke their leg so they are on crutches for quite a while.

back to the drawing board