pic: Game hint

[RKElectricalman]

maybe 4 LED's mean 4 team on the field as opposed to 6!

meaning possibly a 2v2 instead of a 3v3 or maybe even a free for all with 4 robots?

So 4 unique commands for 4 unique robots?... maybe?


*Edit* 4 "receiving" LEDS + Error LED *edit*

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Eric Scheuing

CMD0? Are our robots going to be running around without any underwear this year?

LMAO!!!!!

Now the hard part will be deciding whether to name our robot Britney, Beyonce, Paris, or Lindsay!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Nica F.

They tell us rhyming riddles, post crazy images, and send us things to examine.
I have a feeling that next year the hint will be to stick your hand in a box like those Halloween games where you put your hand in dog food or something and you have to guess what it is. (but of course instead there will be distorted melted things that disappear after a minute just to make it more complicated. lol)

One of those pictues that you have to stare at for a few minutes before you see a 3D image would be cool as well. lol

[clydefrog88]

i was thinking of an explanation the email not being the usual FIRST email blast. Perhaps, if the email's were indeed falsified, the perpetrator(s) searched the CD members list for those listing their team role as a mentor, and sent the supposed FIRST email to them (accounting for alternate contacts who have not received the email). The email inconsistency and the fact that i cannot navigate to the circuit board documentation using the FIRST site (I can only get to it through the URL in the picture) both keep me hesitant to totally believe this is the real deal. But then again, maybe it is.

[AndyB]

Originally Posted by ggoldman

Hey CD!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I have a cool idea (which probably is a couple years away in terms of FIRST actually doing it..but MAYBE it will be for this year.)

FIRST becoming economical....VIRTUAL GAME PIECES

Even though FIRST usually has their game pieces at least partially donated by supplier partners, a very interesting concept to me would be virtual game pieces.

Imagine a game in which there are four locations on the field with integrated IR signal emitters that give out a red, blue, green, or yellow signal (for example) when a robot comes up to it with their IR receiver.

Once the team is within range of the receiver, the signal is picked up by the robot and a beacon (maybe like a LED light on the robot) lights up the color given out by the IR signal. This is equivalent to a Virtual Game Piece.

Bringing the virtual game piece to the correct colored goal scores a point.

Advantages of this idea:
1) no need for game pieces....(Saves LOTS of money for teams and FIRST)
2) instant score board updates (since it is all controlled by the IR signals)
3) Game is different every time since you might not know which color you will get at each station.

Disadvantages:
1) Not sure if we will have IR transmitters too...to send the goal the scoring info.
2) Unlikely that FIRST will ever get rid of a real game scoring piece...this might be used for a bonus or big point objective.


As always...I am probably over analyzing the situation...but thats what I do best

-Gabe G.

Originally Posted by AndyB

I agree. Seems like a lot of effort for so little purpose... Also, commenting on people's ideas of "robots going from station to station to get data to score points": would that not be the most boring game you've ever seen. Seriously, if that was the game, I'd cry. I can just see it now... everyone sitting in the stands and an announcer trying to sound enthusiastic about a robot getting data...

That's about as exciting as making a sandwich... or maybe thinking about making a sandwich...

My point. That would work about as well as Dave getting excited about virtual Krispy Kremes.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by AndyB

My point. That would work about as well as Dave getting excited about virtual Krispy Kremes.

hey - Dave gets excited about ANY Krispy Kremes!!!



-dave



.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by rspurlin

I don't think this is a hoax, although how relevant it will be to the 2008 game is yet to be seen.

How do we know this is a hint for 2008?

Seriously. Knowing the GDC (or specifically, Dave...)

also...
Maybe the fact that only some people have gotten it has to do with their status? Who's paid for their events?

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by dlavery

hey - Dave gets excited about ANY Krispy Kremes!!!



-dave



.

That kind of looks like a boiled bagel, Dave. Sorry, but I just cannot trust your googling abilities anymore.

[fimmel]

Originally Posted by dragon ninja

i was thinking of an explanation the email not being the usual FIRST email blast. Perhaps, if the email's were indeed falsified, the perpetrator(s) searched the CD members list for those listing their team role as a mentor, and sent the supposed FIRST email to them (accounting for alternate contacts who have not received the email). The email inconsistency and the fact that i cannot navigate to the circuit board documentation using the FIRST site (I can only get to it through the URL in the picture) both keep me hesitant to totally believe this is the real deal. But then again, maybe it is.

my mom got the email and she dosent have an account on here, and is the secondary contact for a rookie team....so unless they had a list of tims contacts theres no way they could spoof that...

[clydefrog88]

hmmm, i couldn't think of any other way that some TIMS contacts would not recieve a supposed email blast.

[efoote868]

ah man. finals this week. Looks like i won't think at all about this... unless we get one. Then i'm going to be the one thinking all about this. ouch.

Well, it looks like the breadboard companion I soldered up for my digital electronics class, with its leds. Tell me its something more exciting though.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by WillItBlend

Oh btw I believe the other end of the cable is an exact replica, so maybe thats how FIRST saved money on shipping these out, they just snipped these in half lol.

Have you ever tried to put a cable assembly back together that has been simply "snipped in half". I work at a place where we make cable assemblies for all kind of companies including FIRST sponsors & supporters and leaders in technology like Harris, Raytheon, DEKA, & more, and we make terminated (ie: snipped) cables for specific reasons that the customers request of us.

If your theory is correct, I doubt we will get the other half, but rather a full cable with a mystery connector on the other end.

Originally Posted by vivek16

EDIT2: You know you are addicted to FIRST when you have been sitting here on the game hint page for 7 hours on a sunday...

That's kind of sad. No offense.

Originally Posted by vivek16

wait a minute... Is that piece of paper in the picture smaller than 8x11? I hope so. Other wise those led's must be huge!

It looks square. 8x11 is not square. lol

Originally Posted by richardmcc2

But how can it be an official email blast? I'm the alternate contact for my team and did not receive an email. I've received every other email that has been sent to frcteam@usfirst.org, but not this one I want one of these things soooo badly now....

Originally Posted by dragon ninja

hmmm, i couldn't think of any other way that some TIMS contacts would not recieve a supposed email blast.

What if this item was only sent to certain teams? I don't know why that would be, but I remember our team signing up for experimenting with a board from National Instruments a few years ago. Maybe they selected teams who would receive this board this year by a lottery of past electrical based award winners & people who signed up to use that expierimental software as well back in the day?
AKA: Rookies need not apply?*** I don't know. It doesn't sound like the "level playing field advantage" that every team has had in the past if it is in fact part of the 2008 competition, but if not every team has gotten one or will not be getting one then maybe that explains it? idk.

We got one of the 2008 boards btw.

Originally Posted by Libby K

also...
Maybe the fact that only some people have gotten it has to do with their status? Who's paid for their events?

That could be a factor as well. Good thought Libby. Just one more thing to think about when teams say they haven't gotten theirs yet.

*** See below post.

[Libby K]

Okay, so I already posted this but it's been zipped by...

also...
Maybe the fact that only some people have gotten it has to do with their status? Who's paid for their events?

[vivek16]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

That's kind of sad. No offense.

eh... none taken... I think...

-vivek

[fimmel]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

What if this item was only sent to certain teams? I don't know why that would be, but I remember our team signing up for experimenting with a board from National Instruments a few years ago. Maybe they selected teams who would receive this board this year by a lottery of past electrical based award winners & people who signed up to use that expierimental software as well back in the day?
AKA: Rookies need not apply. I don't know. It doesn't sound like the "level playing field advantage" that every team has had in the past if it is in fact part of the 2008 competition, but if not every team has gotten one or will not be getting one then maybe that explains it? idk.

We got one of the 2008 boards btw.


That could be a factor as well. Good thought Libby. Just one more thing to think about when teams say they haven't gotten theirs yet.

then how come my mom got an email and shes the alt contact for a rookie team?

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Libby K

How do we know this is a hint for 2008?

Seriously. Knowing the GDC (or specifically, Dave...)

also...
Maybe the fact that only some people have gotten it has to do with their status? Who's paid for their events?

Both valid points.

As for the "virtual gamepieces" idea, I'm not a fan of it, at all. When I first attended the Buckeye Regional with my dad, I had never even thought about robots before then. After seeing these machines built by highschoolers doing cool stuff was what fascinated me, and now I'm very active on my team. No offense, but had I watched a competition about us getting certain data or whatever, I would have steered clear for the rest of my life, maybe a load of other students. In fact, I think FIRST wouldn't have survived after the first year of doing so.