**FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #3

[tseres]

FIRST FRENZY!!!!!!

...anyways about my previous post on determining field position with ir, it could be possible with the 4 inputs, as well as serial communication via the ir transmitters,plus extremely precise timing from the transmitters, also the timing would have to be slowed down...light would travel way too fast to determine position from the field location...GPS, uses the distances from 11 000km up in space...but nonetheless it could be possible...

either that or during auton the ir will transmit whether we have to pick up tetras, cubes, or balls and score them in a giant bin in the middle of the arena.

[David Brinza]

Could we be looking at a four-vs-four game?

The fourth anniversary of the two rovers on Mars, the four IR channels, the "tetra" reference and the quad of Copley Square. "Four's gone wild!!"

This would be good for the regionals that have 60 or more teams...though there are a few regionals (Detroit, Pittsburgh) that have only 32 - 34 teams registered.

As the number of teams in FIRST grows, you might eventually expect to see this - maybe this is the year!

[Drwurm]

U guyz r sheeple. I hav figured it out. Think about it. 4 is apearing evrywhere.
And hurdling is alot liek jumping or bouncing.
And what do vets do? They youthenise puppies.

Thats right. The GDC has gone to far. This years game will be a race to youthenise 4 cute bouncing puppies.

Ihav allready contacted PETA and they will be takeing action.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by robotcanuck1676

Speaking of which, since I have a Mac, does anyone know how to decrypt encrypted files in Preview? Particularly when Preview says that they're not encrypted? -

I think it's a problem on FIRST's end. Their webpage says they're using RC4 encryption, but Adobe tells me it's actually AES which isn't supported by some versions of Preview, nor Ghostscript, nor most linux viewers. So if the official documents are encrypted the same as this one, there's going to be some people that won't be able to easily view them. I'll at least be annoyed since I'll have to click through acrobat 5 times to save each file unencrypted instead of running a batch file through ghostscript.

[RedHeadRobotics]

What if vet means like a veteran, like a vet team, instead of a veterinarian? That totally could change what the clue means

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by MaxS

Maybe we can divine this year's competition by looking at hints of past years:

Triple Play involved stacking giant tetrahedrons in a game of tic-tac-toe. I wasn't involved back then, so I don't really know that much.



Aim High involved launching foam balls (meatballs?) at targets, represented with green lights ("Montana's green heights"). The shovel could refer either to a robot shoving balls into the lower goals or to ball-collection device.

Triple play's clue explained: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=582

Aim High you kinda got untill the shovel's show part then you kinda hit yourself in your face. Shoves Show. Think a little. What kinds of shoves? Spade perhaps? Isn't there an actor named David Spade? David Spade's Show.... which was.... Just Shoot Me. :-P

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Kevin342

The most well known "veterinarian" was Dr. Doolittle. And Jimmy Doolittle was a famous veteran - a WWII bomber squadron leader who took off from a carrier (over water). A tetra is a tropical fish (once again the veterinarian reference).

We'll have to build flying robots that jump over hurdles to bomb mechanical fish!

Doolittle didn't bomb water or fish--he and his squadron bombed Tokyo, then tried to make it to China. Then they started hitting the water as they ran out of fuel. I'm not sure what Doolittle did after that.

[robogeek753]

Even though there is only two days left and we won't ever know until kickoff I figure I'll throw my guess into the mix.

1. At either end of the field there will be a "field goal" like setup with a net to catch balls shot into it by robots (a la Aim High)

--RATIONALE--

Clue #2, The coordinates point to copley squeare, the bearing between two obelisks (the field goal posts) and then to the Globe Cafe

2. At each corner of the field there will be a bin for depositing square blocks (possilbly shaped like K'NEX bricks).

--RATIONALE--

Clue #2 again, Copley Square and the other numerous references to other games involving boxes, too numerous to list (Stack Attack etc.)

3. An end game autonomous that has 3, possibly 4 of the center goals from Triple Play and IR emitters on each one. At the end of teleoperated , the IR of the goal that will actually count will start emmitting (tetra could be picked up prior to endgame) and if a robot gets the tetra on that goal, major bonus points.

--RATIONALE--

Clue #1, well we have to use that IR board for something, just because it has four channels doesn't mean we use them all.
Clue #3, I agree that it could mean vet teams having to finally beat the triple play challenge (man I hated that game) and I also like the idea of a single "bonus" tetra.

4. 2v2 play again

--RATIONALE--

Dave's signature, for the two, this season is for you. I believe this could refer to the past games where it was 2v2 play.

5. Periods in which certain game pieces can be scored will be indicated by solid or flashing red/blue lights (Aim High only one team can score periods maybe?).

--RATIONALE--

Clue 2 Hancock Tower reference.


99.9% chance I'm totally wrong, .01% chance that any part(s) is right. Guess we'll know on Saturday. (must... go... to... sleep.. but.... too... excited..)

[rhoads2234]

Originally Posted by robogeek753

Even though there is only two days left and we won't ever know until kickoff ...
99.9% chance I'm totally wrong, .01% chance that any part(s) is right. Guess we'll know on Saturday. (must... go... to... sleep.. but.... too... excited..)

I have to agree. We won't know but it is to tempting to think we might know before the game is released to ignore the hints!

[Elgin Clock]

I'm going to combine some hints here, and take a random guess.

Clue 3:
Vet hurdled FIRST tetra:

Kevin Watson is a Veteran FIRSTer. (And hopefully he's also a good sport in case the following predictions I state here are way off. lol )

A hurdle is a problem one can overcome, and make out better in the end because of it.

A FIRST tetra kinda looks like an ominous shark fin peering above the playing field's surface.


Clue 2:

Copley Square, leads to:
John Singleton Copley.

He was the artist for (among other things) a painting called Watson & The Shark.
It was a scene about a boy swimming in a harbor, and who suffered multiple attacks by a single shark. The crew from the boat he was serving on fought off the shark, & even though he was injured whtn the shark took off his leg, he made a full recovery and overcame adversity to lead a full life as a mayor among other things.

One cool fact about sharks is that they are mildly homeothermic, or able to maintain their body temperature above the surrounding environment, which leads right into the characteristic of Clue 1.


Clue 1: IR Sensor basically equals a Heat sensor.



Ok... so... to tie all these things together, I'm guessing there will be an element on the field (or all over the field for that matter to make things even harder) in the shape of a shark fin, or beacon (or even a modified tetra shape) which has a heat source inside, or an IR signal of some kind to avoid while driving around the field to accomplish a task.

What that task is, I'm not sure yet. I working on that theory still.


The whole 3 clue thing has me a little excited, I'm not gonna lie.


Clue 1 is a new sensor to be used in some way which is just cool. I'm leaning towards the fact it will go on the robot for above reasons.
(btw, IR sensor first used in FIRST competitions in 2004 - remember that, it's important.)

Clue 2 is a mention of Copley which leads to a Singleton (a game element from 2007)

Clue 3 is blatantly referencing a FIRST tetra which was a game element in 2003.


So.. if we add those numbers of the years in the clues, and divide by the number of clues, we have another link to sharks.

(2004+2003+2007)/3 =
6014 / 3 =
2004.6

Year 2004 was named FIRST Frenzy: Raising The Bar.


Sharks are usually connected with the word Frenzy when they are very active in the water. So... to enlighten all the Water Game proponents... I'd just like to welcome 2008's game:

FIRST Frenzy: Sink Or Swim*.




*Or something just as wacky as that, but with the return of the FIRST Frenzy part of the name at least.

[joshsmithers]

Originally Posted by meaubry

Experience using 4 IR signals to race (boston marathon & hurdling references) to a specific location (latitude-longitude clue) and face a specific direction (bearing) in order to "fish for" (tetra, plus - stock up on enough fish and kite shaped fish references from Dave L.) a specific color or shaped game piece - then race & deposit it (score points) before recieving (via 4 code IR) the next color needed - start the process over again. The team with the most correct color/shaped fish wins.

Using magnetic fish (game pieces) is as close to involving water - without actually involving water, as you can get! Brilliant!

Sounds like alot of fun doesn't it?

Mike

Wow, this is my favorite idea so far. Everything fits. My only problem is that I couldn't see the use of magnetic game pieces.

Also, with all this "the number 4" talk, I wonder if we'll get a fourth game hint by saturday.

[organman42]

Originally Posted by joshsmithers

Also, with all this "the number 4" talk, I wonder if we'll get a fourth game hint by saturday.

Yeah, 5 minutes before the video feed starts, just to drive everyone even more crazy.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by organman42

Yeah, 5 minutes before the video feed starts, just to drive everyone even more crazy.

No, I'm sure it will be more likely it will be 5 minutes after the video feed starts to make everyone watching go crazy, not just us folks at the Kickoff in New Hampshire.

[Vince lau]

encrypted sections of the 2008 FRC Manual have been posted on the FIRST site

[meaubry]

"My only problem is that I couldn't see the use of magnetic game pieces" -

joshsmithers - the year tetras were the game pieces, FIRST used magnets strong enough to hold them up inside the end giant scoring tetras - at the start of the match.

What if they had these strong little magnets attached to the top of the "fish" - such that when a team hung their hook (opposing magnet) in the fishing hole/zone, the 2 magnets would be attracted and attach themselves together - allowing the team to "reel in" their catch!

Anyways, that's how I envision being able to "catch" fish in the game that I described. Maybe we have to make "floppie fish" - anyone remember "floppies"!

Mike