2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[Gundamx92000]

the comment was made "sitting somewhere isnt very exciting". think of it this way, while the robot may not tootally be "relaxing" think of a King of the hill like 2003. At the end, the robots "sitting" on top of the ramp was awarded points. That was plenty exciting! perhaps theres a stronger connection than thought? farfetched, yes, but crazy enough to have potential.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

However, I remember in 2003 you got more points for having the movable goal on your side, correct?

that was 2002 and you got 10 points for the goal being in your zone and 1 point for each ball in the goal

4.5 more days

[Bemis]

I've no idea if this was said, since I really havn't the time to read thirty-five pages of posts, but heres my idea.

Noodles is foam packing noodles. You have to shovel them into a bucket or other container above the ground. Scoring would be based on how much was put in the bucket, with multipliers for filling them higher. Obviously, each team would have their own buckets, to keep scores seperate. As for the five 'bots thing, I've no idea.

[MikeDubreuil]

five 'bots tangling with pasta
a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show
and seeing Montana's green heights

After reading most of the thread I am prepared to give an update on my ideas for 2006's game...

My guess is this year's game will involve a large central island. The island is on wheels and movable. The island is shaped like a truncated pyramid. There is enough room for 5 robots to drive on it and park. Above the pyrimid is a large bowl. The bowl is used as a goal for scoring elements. This year's scoring elements will be pool noodles and ball crawl balls.

The ball crawl balls will be dumped onto the field similar to the balls in 2004. Human players will have pool noodles. They will be handed off to a robot similar to how tetras were handed off in 2005. The goal of the game is to score the most noodles and balls into the pasta bowl. At the conclusion of the match a robot must be parked on the pyramid to score extra points. If the island is on your side of the field at the end of the game additional points are scored.

[I'mwithstupid^]

totally knew it would have something to do with cylinders this year! man i'm good.

[amos229]

i dont think the human player will have the noodles. after my experience as hp last year handling the tetras without hitting someone was hard enough, a pool noodle it wouldnt heart but yud get hit alot, i like the idea of pool balls what a drivingchallenge, especially if they were to just spread them around the feild

[Henry_Mareck]

My ideas follow Mike's very closely, and I am gonna do my own summary.
Though it is possible that auto is at the end, i think auto will be at the beginning as usual. I think that there will be TWO scoring options in auto. One that is easy, and one that is more difficult, so that new teams can do something besides sit there, and experienced teams can still have a high goal to shoot for. I also think the truncated pyramid will appear, and i think the top will be worth more points. I like the moving goals. I think they make the game interesting. But where did the ball crawl balls come from? And where did the footballs go to? My theory: replace the ball crawl balls with footballs. And i dont know about the pool noodles, but they are pasta-like, and can be different colors. But if they ARE a game piece, then i get the feeling there are going to be pieces of pool noodle all over the field(s).

EDIT: we used ball crawl balls in a competition called B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering Science + Technology). This comptition is on a smaller scale: 24"x24"x24" foot robots, 24 pound weight limit. ball crawl balls seem to be too small a scale to me, compared with tetras and four square balls, etc. but the shovel picking up small stuff makes sense. hmmmmmm . . . .

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by Henry_Mareck

But where did the ball crawl balls come from?

I guess this was kind of my own invention because I wanted ball crawl balls more than it made sense

What made me think of small balls was the clue about the game piece obsessed with a shovel's show. A shovel picks up many small things and dump them together. However, there are clues to support a football themed game piece- Montana and the shovel pass.

In retrospect I would leave everything the same except change ball crawl balls to footballs.

EDIT: There is another reason I didn't want to include footballs. Teams have been asking for footballs for a long time. Every year it was thought, "this is the year, we'll have footballs." Then we get something like a tetra

[Alex Burman]

only about 399600 seconds to go until kick off

whos gunna be right?

[petek]

Here's a shovel show I haven't seen mentioned: Shovel Racing

Could this be how the human players play? Gotta admire his form...

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by MikeDubreuil

My guess is this year's game will involve a large central island.

Remember Dave's post about the "Viking Death Ship"? I buy in to a central island, which has ramps to get up to the 'heights'. Rather than a truncated pyramid, I think there will be only 2 ramps, more like a boat. That fits only 5 robots.

Tangling with pasta possibly has something to do with an obstacle placed on the field. Past posts have discussed the durability of pool noodles, I agree and don't think we'll see them. Hula hoops and twirling batons overheard on a jet? Maybe, when combined with Dave's post about 'batons and other stuff around the office' (or something like that).

Looking back at the 2005 game hint posting, it is amazing that the second post had already come up with the name "Triple Play"...

Me, I'm hoping for those 100 pound spheres Magnus Mangusson likes to toss around...

Don

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by petek

Here's a shovel show I haven't seen mentioned: Shovel Racing

Could this be how the human players play? Gotta admire his form...

yeah but if there's a branch just low enough....ouch

[RbtGal1351]

To draw some (hopeful) connections:
If autonomous mode is at the end, I hope the GPS-like technology broadcasts your field location.

~Stephanie
*programmer being hopeful*

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by Bemis

I've no idea if this was said, since I really havn't the time to read thirty-five pages of posts, but heres my idea.

Noodles is foam packing noodles. You have to shovel them into a bucket or other container above the ground. Scoring would be based on how much was put in the bucket, with multipliers for filling them higher. Obviously, each team would have their own buckets, to keep scores seperate. As for the five 'bots thing, I've no idea.

if you're talking about those packing peanuts little syrofoam things, then those would be a pain in the you know what for the field reset clue to clean up. im thinking more towards the ball crawl balls, pool noodles(more unlikely) or pvc pipes/cylinders.

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by RbtGal1351

To draw some (hopeful) connections:
If autonomous mode is at the end, I hope the GPS-like technology broadcasts your field location.

~Stephanie
*programmer being hopeful*

That would be interesting, but I doubt it will happen. How would you test your code during the build season?

You could achieve the same thing by going to a predifined location before autonomus ends though, then your 'bot would "know" where it is. This adds all sorts of interesting strategic elements because the opposing team could figure out your predefined spot and sit there...

If you're clever, you'll have a multiposition switch indicating a bunch of points on the feild. Then line your robot up to one of those points and set the switch appropriately. The switch's state can be saved in EEPROM for the automode to recover...

I hope auto is at the end and worth a lot of points this year. Please dave, pleeeease?