FIRST 101 [10/6/05]

[Travis Hoffman]

Great stuff, Professor, as usual!

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

The Passive Placebo
I really dont have much to say about this one. Basically in 1998, FIRST decided to ditch the normal Placebo's in place of a box on casters that robots could push around for defensive use in rounds they were in. Actually...they never even left the starting box and were quite bland.

If I may be so bold as to append another peculiar device to your history? A close cousin of the passive placebo was the vastly underutilized "stretcher" in the 2001 game (my first year). It served not as a robot substitute but instead as a prosthetic for motivationally-challenged robots.

From the 2001 Competition Manual.....


GM9. Each team is given three “coupons” which may be redeemed during the course of the qualification matches in order to place their robot onto FIRST’s “stretcher” prior to the start of a match. The stretcher is designed to carry non-functioning or partially functioning robots so that they may participate in a match for the purposes of scoring. A maximum of one stretcher may be used in a match. All coupons unused at the conclusion of the qualification matches are forfeited. Teams participating in the elimination matches receive two coupons each for use during the elimination matches. Teams may not give their coupons to other teams.

GM10. A robot placed on a stretcher must be wholly supported by the stretcher at the start of the match.

GM11. A robot which starts the match on a stretcher may not provide its own locomotion by directly pushing or pulling on the playing field surface, but may otherwise interact as normal with the balls, goals, and other robots. Incidental contact between the robot and the surface of the playing field, such as when attempting to pickup a ball, is acceptable. Movement from handling a ball, goal, or other robot is acceptable. If a robot which starts the match on a stretcher ends up off the stretcher, it still may not provide its own locomotion by directly pushing or pulling on the surface of the playing field. The stretcher may be pushed or pulled by other robots on the field in order to move it around the field. It is suggested that teams utilizing the stretcher temporarily disable their robot’s main drive mechanisms by disconnecting the appropriate PWM and/or Relay cables in order to prevent accidental violation of this rule.


*************************************************

If the stretcher was on the field and was in the end zone at the end of a match, it was worth 10 base points to the alliance.

I personally did not witness much stretcher-related excitement during the 2001 season, but perhaps others have some glorious tales to tell.