[Official 2007 Game Design] OK, so YOU design the 2007 game...

[Donut]

The field would be the same size as last year, but possibly with something other than carpet (they have large sheets of tile at Home Depot, and you could probably get enough to cover the entire game field for less than $500). This game is designed for 3 robots, but could be easily modified to accomodate more/less. The initial size and weight restrictions on a robot are the same as this year, once the match begins robots may extend to any size.



Robots start in the 3 color squares for their alliance, just like this year. The game is played with a few hundred racquet balls (yeah small scoring objects!) Balls may be scored into either the shorter, covered goals or the taller, open goals (this would force teams to have some kind of adjustable or two different scoring mechanisms instead of one all around one).



Balls scored in the short covered goal (opening is about 3 feet off the ground) are worth 1 point each, balls scored in the taller goal (about 5.5-6 feet tall) are worth 2 points. The lights above the two taller goals may be either red or blue (one will be one, one the other) indicating which alliance that goal will score for. These lights will not indicate which alliance the goal will be for until the beginning of autonomous mode, and drivers will not be given prior knowledge of the goals either. Any balls scored in a goal count for the team it is colored/lighted for (so you can score for opponents). The permanent red goal is in the blue alliance station, and the permanent blue goal is in the red alliance station, so your goal is on the opposite end of the field like Aim High.

Autonomous would be between 10 and 15 seconds long, with robots able to score in any goal. Each robot may start with up to 20 balls, and there will be no balls on the field at the start of the match. The winner of autonomous receives a 5 point bonus and starts on defense.

The periods would play out the same way they did in Aim High, with the same time lengths and same offensive/defensive rules (including offsides). There are 2 large ball containers each containing between 100 and 300 racquet balls, with one on each end of the field along the sides (not shown in the pictures). At the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd periods, the ball conatiner on the offensive team's side of the field (so, if blue were on offense, the conatiner closest to the blue alliance station) will open and dump the racquet balls in it all over the field.

Throughout the rest of the match balls in the tall goals still score 2 points and balls in the covered goals still score 1 point. Scoring is real-time, and balls that are scored may then be entered back into play by human players (human players may not shoot balls into the goals).

On each side of the field is a large teeter-totter with a PVC pipe goal for one of the alliances on either end.



Balls placed in this teeter-totter will not count for any points; balls may be placed in it by either human players shooting at it or by robots on the field. Balls placed in one of these goals will remain in them for the rest of the match and may not be removed. At the end of the match, an alliance will double their score for each teeter-totter they have leaning towards their goal (this can be checked by a scale or something, but the teeter-totter gives a nice, cool visual indicator). Robots may not be intentionally touching the teeter-totter at the end of the match; doing so will result in the double multiplier automatically being awarded to the opposing alliance. If an alliance tips both teeter-totters in their favor, they will double then double again their score, quadrupling it overall.

Well, I think that pretty much covers my game.

[Andrew Blair]

I really like a few thing's about Donut's design.

1. Open field. Makes it really easy for everyone (Including spectators) to see and keep track of stuff.


2. Incorporation of something lighted.

[Kyle Love]

I still like the idea of using tires as scoring objects, not car tires, bike or motorcycle tires.

I would also like to see a game where, the game itself would change during the weekend. You could have two versions of the games, same rules (so basically just different sized goals...or move the goals around.) This would add a much more "interesting" aspect to the game.

...more to come later...I'm sure....

[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

I still like the idea of using tires as scoring objects, not car tires, bike or motorcycle tires.

Something like this was done in 1997. I wasn't there, but it looked REALLY cool.

[Andrew Blair]

Okay, I've got a pretty wild idea. All game pieces, preferably small (Golf balls?) are dispensed by 3 independent moving, well, dispensers. The dispensers move in wide, predictable arcs, making the drive very simple and very robust. They have lights for camera detection.

The strategy would be to pin them against a wall somewhere so that they wouldn't move anymore, then gather up pieces and drop them somewhere for points. There would be a rather large defensive battle for control of these slipery little things, and not only would teams have to wrangle the other alliance, but also their game pieces.


You could switch it around, using the moving goals for point drops, and have it similar to zone zeal, where the goals must be on your side for points.

*Afterthought*- Boy, Aim High is going to be hard to top...

[EricH]

My vision:

Field size and setup: Same size as for Aim High, driver stations at the ends. In the middle of the field are 5 mobile goals in a + shape. 2 alliances of 3 robots each are placed on the field (place TBD). Human players are at 6 loading stations on the long sides of the field (3 per side).

Goals: 5 mobile goals, each about 6-8 feet tall, with reflective tape on them (as in 2002) and possibly a green vertical bar. At each loading station, there is a goal similar to the corner goals this year. Each has a light over it that could be red or blue (explained later).

Scoring objects: footballs and large softballs.

The game starts with an autonomous mode of 15 seconds. The side goals' lights turn on red or blue in a random pattern. An auto scoring system scores the balls in each goal and counts the points (then tells the human scorers the points in each goal and what color it is). Each robot tries to score either in its own color goal or in the center goals. Winner gets to play defense in the next period. No bonus determined yet, but should be 5-15 points.

Periods run much the same as in Aim High. The side lights change color depending on the period. (Red score or blue score). Final period is free for all, and the side lights are random again. Instead of offense or defense, the periods would be preferred scoring time.

The twists: Any ball type may be scored in any place. Humans may only score in the center goals. Robots may only be loaded in the loading area where their human player is. mobile goals may be loaded in any place. After a robot has dumped a load, it may not load without leaving the loading zone. The same goes for loading, then dumping. No contact in the loading zones, however you are not allowed to use them as a safe zone. Any robot may score in any goal. Any robot may score in any goal at any time, however, the side goals count for only the team whose light is on.

The big finish: There are six 1-foot high platforms each big enough to hold one mobile goal or one robot, but not both. Three are at each end. A mobile goal on a platform counts, along with anything in it, for the alliance that owns the platform. Robots also count, but nothing in them does.

Suggested scoring:
Football in side goal: 2 points
Softball in side goal: 1 point
Football in center goal: 4 points if goal is on platform
Softball in center goal: 2 points if goal is on platform
Goal on platform: 10 points
Robot on platform: 5 points
Auto win bonus: TBD (5-15 points, not sure just what)
Human scoring in side goal: -5 points

[Donut]

I have finished my game in the post above.

Also, I would love to see a bizzare game piece for next year (either because of shape, size, or material). Think I mean you could have wheels, or logs, or racquet balls, or batons, or lawn chairs, or who knows what else.

And let's see if we can have a new field surface! Watch in amazement as all your traction devices become outdated!

[Tetraman]

Yo....

Take the way the Lego leauge works to FRC. Adding and subracting parts from your robot during competition.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Yo....

Take the way the Lego leauge works to FRC. Adding and subracting parts from your robot during competition.

You already can, as long as it's between matches and all parts together are under the weight limit. I'm pretty sure it would be a safety hazard if a team started changing their robot on-field during a match (not to mention taking all match).

[Billfred]

Let's try something different. As much as I love these big, hulking robots, I found out this season through FVC that smaller robots can be a hoot as well. (Plus they're cheaper to build, what with lower shipping weights and smaller material costs.)

So let's imagine a field about 24' square, with the player stations perpendicular to each other to form a diamond shape on the floor. (In theory, this could allow regionals with more space to run two fields, GTR-style, allow smaller venues to add more teams, or reduce the cost of shipping the field to off-seasons.) To the ends of the player stations are ball corrals, narrower than this year's and shorter. Robots shrink as well in both size and weight to fit the smaller field, although perhaps not as drastically.

Instead of the traditional 3v3, let's spice it up and make it 2v2v1. The sole objective of the loner robot is to attempt to keep the gap between the winning and losing scores to an absolute minimum, and would result in the ranking system looking something like the FVC arrangement from this season. While competing, any penalties would be added to their score instead of subtracted, and a DQ would result in them receiving the winning score as their score. In elimination rounds, the loner is not used.

To steal yet another item from Half-Pipe Hustle, let's use racquetballs for the game pieces. Several dozen of them are placed at midfield within a box taped off on the floor. More lines go from the box to the starting locations of each of the robots. Placed at the edge of the field, opposite the player stations, are several troughs with a backboard, the ones on the ends on hinges. The ones on hinges stay up unless pulled down, but they can be returned to their upright state by a properly-designed robot. Troughs are assigned to each alliance at random at the start of the match, using a Verbrugge-on-Einstein light.

Robots start out along the walls in front of their player stations, with the loner set up in the corner opposite the player stations. (One player station would remain empty during the match if the 2005-2006 player stations were used unless you made the field pentagonal, which, now that I think of it, would be interesting to see.) The fifteen-second autonomous portion of the match starts with robots going for the balls at midfield, scooping up balls and, if they're especially good, starting to score for their alliance.

The next thirty seconds of the match are played with the drivers and operators using special controls, each one using four momentary switches to control the robots--no joysticks yet. Successful teams can use either line tracking or the CMUcam to automatically navigate the field and score, while less-advanced teams could simply map the buttons to forwards/backwards/turn left/turn right. The remaining 1:30 are full-on human operations, like we've seen before.

During the match, robots are either directly dumping balls into their troughs, descoring the other alliance's balls either by sucking balls out or dumping them outright, propping up goals that are dumped, or playing defense against potential dumping. Human players can introduce balls through the corrals by the corners, either shooting for troughs or loading up other robots. Balls in static troughs are one point, while those in tippable troughs are good for three.

To finish the match, teams race to fit themselves inside the box of balls, which is conveniently sized to fit only two or three robots. Those fully inside receive a twenty-point bonus. (The loner cannot score in this regard, as he is officially neutral, but there is nothing stopping them from trying to fit in regardless.)

[Andrew Blair]

Here are the things I think are attainable, but oh so important.

1. Wide open field. The expansiveness, to with a few goodies (ramps, a few goals perhaps), allows the audience to see what's going on, the drivers to see what's going on, breakneck field crosings, and large potential for defense. Goals should be placed opposite their alliance to encourage defense. Defensive periods are good.

2. Real time scoring. This was a huge help to drivers, the audience, and the field crew. ( Well, maybe not the field crew at first...). It made it easy to follow, like a sporting event, easier to plan a course of mid-game action, and easier to set-up/ reset/ change-over the field between matches. Everything ran much smoother, especially by Atlanta.

My game envisionment? Similar to a football game. I'll try to render it out.

[lukevanoort]

Okay here goes, the field is about the same size as this year's, same carpet, so on. I'm going to just describe half of the field for simplicity, but it's symmetric. In the middle of the half field is a raised HDPE covered platform with a 30 degree ramp all around, made out of diamond plate, like this year. There are these rolling PVC goal, but they're different from previous ones. These are about 1.5 feet tall cubes with snow fencing on the sides and bottom to keep balls in, and a green LED (for the camera) on each side, the cubes are mounted on casters for mobility. Three of these line the walls on each long side. (Twelve total for the whole field) In the middle against the operator station are two robot starting spots, but they are of different alliances. The remaining starting spots for the other two robots on each alliance are in a similar location to this year, straddling the centre line. In the dead centre of the entire field is a post about 9 feet tall with another light on it. Maybe pink or yellow, or orange, or something else that the camera can easily pick out. The post could even use an IR signal, and IR sensors returned to the KOP. Surrounding this post are several hundred racquet balls in a circle. (the field reset team would use a metal ring to make the circle, sort of like the triangle in pool) There would also be a new light for robots that is on a rod not dissimilar to the flag this year, but it would be attached securely to robots via latching thingy. Again this would be for the camera. Scoring would be 5 points for every goal on your alliance's platform, plus one point for every ball in a goal on your alliance's platform. A robot on a platform is also worth 5 pts. A goal counts as "on the platform" if it is either in contact and supported fully by the HDPE, or supported by something that is being supported fully by the HDPE. A goal 8 feet higher or more than the platform surface has the value of its balls doubled, but it still has to count as "on the platform." Robots have the same starting dimensions as this year, as well as starting weights, bumpers stay, but the robots can exceed their starting size after the beginning of the match. The match would be 135 seconds long, 15 for autonomous, 120 for operator play. A big challenge in this game would be the need to either sense everything or choose what to sense carefully, since so many things are there to sense. And sensing would be very good to have because for every 10 seconds a team chooses to stay in autonomous after the set auto period ends, they get five bonus points, to a maximum of 50 per alliance. This game would give teams a lot number of points if they manage to make such an integrated sensing system so that they can leave their robots in auto and still score many points, (or at least prepare to score a lot when they switch to operator control) but it also allows teams that aren't quite that good to be competitive. The excitement factor of the game would also be high, since you'd have robots jetting around in hundreds of balls, lifting goals, and climbing ramps. (with the inevitable tips)

EDIT: Forgot to include the human players. Each alliance has an additional 30 balls to shoot into the goals, and more can be passed to them via a hole in the wall like the corner goals of this year.

[Donut]

I like lukevanoort's game, especially the idea of potentially so many lighted targets, but I have a concern that with basically the only way to score being from goals on your ramp (since your robot on it is only worth 5 points), team's could do many of the same strategies from 2002 where they simply pin all the goals in corners and keep you from ever using them.

I second the motion for lights on robots for the camera to sense, preferrably different colors for different alliances.