**FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2

[Sunshine]

I think it has to do more with standard C code. As mentioned before, the undefined floating-point variable gives you 6 decimal places.

So, to get more people involved with autonomous mode......

Is it possible that they want us to program the robot to get to a certain location on the playing field where there will be a IR signal? At that point, we will program the robot to do something when it receives this signal. When that is done it looks for the second signal and so forth. Wouldn't this make the autonomous mode easier for most teams?

Not sure about the rest of you, but when we went to the regional debriefing meeting at the end of the season, it was obvious that FIRST wanted to get more teams involved with autonomous mode.

So, with that in mind, how does this all tie together?

[johnr]

well if everything points to the globe bar, someone should go in with a ir powered up and see what happens. or just ask the bar tender if he knows anything

[Leav]

as long as were into XKCD, you should check this out:

http://xkcd.com/356/

the GDC's version is in the attachment

-Leav

[Tottanka]

globe cafe & bar website:
http://boston.citysearch.com/profile/4730129/

[nutron5skills]

the whole thing with the weights which are located at the 58th floor not the 60th:

quoted from wiki

The building's upper-floor occupants suffered from motion sickness when the building swayed in the wind. To stabilize the movement, a device called a tuned mass damper was installed on the 58th floor. As described by Robert Campbell, architecture critic for the Boston Globe:

Two 300-ton weights sit at opposite ends of the 58th floor of the Hancock. Each weight is a box of steel, filled with lead, 17 feet (5.2 m) square by 3 feet (0.9 m) high. Each weight rests on a steel plate. The plate is covered with lubricant so the weight is free to slide. But the weight is attached to the steel frame of the building by means of springs and shock absorbers. When the Hancock sways, the weight tends to remain still... allowing the floor to slide underneath it. Then, as the springs and shocks take hold, they begin to tug the building back. The effect is like that of a gyroscope, stabilizing the tower. The reason there are two weights, instead of one, is so they can tug in opposite directions when the building twists. The cost of the damper was $3 million.

The John Hancock Tower seen from the Prudential Tower close to I-90, seen on the right
The John Hancock Tower seen from the Prudential Tower close to I-90, seen on the right

The dampers are free to move a few feet relative to the floor. LeMessurier Consultants says the dampers are located in relatively small utility rooms at each end of the building, leaving most of the 58th floor usable.

According to Robert Campbell, it was also discovered that—despite the mass damper—the building could have fallen over under a certain kind of wind loading. Ironically, it could tip over on one of its narrow edges, not its big flat sides. Some 1,500 tons of diagonal steel bracing were added to prevent this, costing $5 million.

it says they act as a gyroscope, just putting it out there not sure if anyone has mentioned this

[Ross340]

could the last number indicate a time from when the hint was released? Then at said time, the shadow of the neighboring tall building points to something?

[ergodezign]

342.242026 could be anglular degrees measured relative to North

[daltore]

These 3 numbers could just all be outputs of a computer-based calculator program (most of them that I've worked with output to 6 digits unless otherwise specified). So that leaves us with these possibilities:

1) Rotation sequence (42 degrees clockwise, 71 counter-clockwise, 342 clockwise). At first, I thought this might be a combination lock, but that won't work for a standard one because it's divided into 40 numbers, so each division represents and even 9 degrees.
2) Rotation rate (such as that of a motor, where the negative would just be the opposite direction).
3) Voltage and/or current (in mA, of course) where the negative would be a negative voltage on the positive electrode and a positive voltage on the common (assuming we're talking about a multimeter or a motor with marked terminals).
4) Relative motion (42 units forward, 71 back...)

I agree, don't get stuck on lat and lon, as curious as it is.

[ergodezign]

Any one have ICAO Charts for airline navigation? Might be worth a look.

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I have a feeling that the numbers that are given to us has nothing to do with the coordinate system. Think about it, when did GDC ever gave us a clue where it was very obvious.

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I believe, the hints have a VERY obvious relation to the game that we are just not being able to relate to yet.

You're growing old already man .

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

If we take this as latitude, longitude, compass bearing, it points from Copley Square directly towards Manchester, NH.

Hahaha!

I actually like this theory, and it's relevant because it's not the first time a co-ordinate has lead to the placement of something. A fun fact about Dean's house is that it is a perfect distance & direction from FIRST HQ which helps in transmitting info via radio from FIRST to Westwind (Dean's House).
(I forget what that distance & direction specifically was. I'll try to contact the person who gave me this info, and get some more details. But all I'm trying to say, is that a lot of things are put somewhere for a purpose)

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

Ok, so I did a little graphing. Straight from the coordinates, at 342 degrees, you're looking through the two obelisks, straight at the Globe Cafe.

See attached.

Originally Posted by Leav

Robots playing football!

Originally Posted by finaldark

Guys we got the coordinate idea.. it doesn't seem to be revealing anything at all..
Think different, no more coordinates, lets try something else. what else could those numbers represent?

Originally Posted by lasereyes

But what if we look in the oposite direction (i.e. have someone stand in that location and look in that direction, in which case, they would be looking at the north 'gate' of the square. In which case, there are 2 obelisks. Could that represent anything?

I have an image of it:
The 'obelisks'

I know some of these things have been brought up before, but I have visuals..
Oooh!! Ahhhh!!! LOL

Anyways, If you stand @ said coordinate, & look at in the direction of the 342 degree heading (if that's what it is), we can see a sculpture called the tortoise & the hare,


Some other coincidences when u stand there and look that way, are that you are facing "Beacon St." & MIT among other things, but directly in your sights is the Copley Square Fountain. Which to me looks like (among other things a huge field goal type structure) Football. w00t!
& The big Beacon St. connection?
Beacon = IR beacon? Dun dun dun!! lol



The single most important picture I found was this one shown below.
If you actually stood in that spot, and looked in that direction this is probably the angle you would see. Looks like I found the perfect picture for our clue as shown below.






My final guess is that we are using the IR sensors to aim at a beacon & between a field goal type football structure.
The visual link to the Tortoise & The Hare I'm having trouble trying to link to that theory, but oh well.

Originally Posted by finaldark

Well the only thing i could see from higher up, was the Letters EI in that building there. I dont think that helps with anything.. but its never something to be ignored.

EI In FIRST World stands for Engineering Inspiration.


On last thought. As some of you know (and others may not), some parts of kickoff are actually not recorded live. What if some of the relevant information to this spot has actually been filmed on location in Copley Square already?

Anyone live in that area, and remember seeing a film crew in or around that location any time recently?

[Laaba 80]

The Posts are slowing down.
All the people who stayed up all night with this must have finally gone to bed.

[Kyle O'Don]

The Posts are slowing down.
All the people who stayed up all night with this must have finally gone to bed.

Lies about those who stayed up all night! We never sleep... well, only briefly. Mostly, we just ran out of ideas.

[njamietech]

Originally Posted by popo308

Yes im sorry i haven't gotten any sleep lately because of CD. My spelling has been horrible today....

ahh but sleep will come soon

if you want you can get the Google toolbar.

It has a spell checker designed for forums

All you have to do is hit the green checkmark and it marks incorrect words in red. you right click them and it gives you a list of corrections. you select the right word and it changes it. then when your done you hit the green checkmark again and your done.

BTW. I just used it and it corrected a capitalization error on the word Google

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Kyle O'Don

Lies about those who stayed up all night! We never sleep... well, only briefly. Mostly, we just ran out of ideas.

At the rate the GDC has been going, we'll now get a email that says something like

Originally Posted by FRC Game Hint #3

Greetings Teams:

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words


Happy Holidays and GO TEAMS!

and everybody will get confused some more.

Originally Posted by njamietech

if you want you can get the google toolbar.

It has a spell checker designed for forums

Or just switch to Firefox. It has a built-in spellchecker that checks all data you enter into forms.