2008 Game- Overdrive

[fordchrist675]

Yea no cims is what they say i like how spheres have been the game for 3 years in a row haha.

[Deacon Blues]

I am looking at the checklist, and it includes 2 2.5in CIMS, so I dont know what you guys are freaking out about.

The .5in Bump is by the center divider, whoever asked that.

HAs anyone done calculations on how long it would take their robot from last year to tranverse the field?

[Taraxacum]

Originally Posted by JoeXIII'007

[*]Third thoughts: is this the robotic version of quidditch??? close... maybe... not quite

Absolute LOL.

[ShortBang]

Has anyone used the ToughBox gearboxes that are included in the KoP before?

[Éowyn]

Originally Posted by fordchrist675

Yea no cims is what they say i like how spheres have been the game for 3 years in a row haha.

Toroids aren't spheres.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by fredliu168

I think, you have to bump the bottem of your ball through the hole to get it down.

My first edition of this post was probably in error.

Edit:A math proof that the ball should dangle far enough below the rails to be bump-able

given a trackball center at (0,0)
given a trackball contact point with a rail at (16,y) (the rails are 32" apart)
given the trackball is 20" and assuming it remains approximately spherical, then...

x^2 + y^2 = r^2
16^2 + y^2 = 400
y^2 = 400 - 256
y = 12

So the contact point for the rails will be 12" below the center of the ball. This means that between the rails, the bottom of the ball should be 8" below them, and thus 2" below the maximum allowed height of a robot in the opponent zone. However, this is in an ideal world where the rails are infinitely thin and the ball is perfectly sperical. Since the rails are 1.5" wide and the ball will deform some, the ball may be slightly higher than where I computed it to be, and the contact space for a robot will be very, very small.

Edit: see attachment below for diagram.

[fordchrist675]

well circles have been in the game since my freshmen year

06 the aim high balls
07 rack n roll tubes
08 overdrive track balls

[Kat Kononov]

Originally Posted by Deacon Blues

HAs anyone done calculations on how long it would take their robot from last year to tranverse the field?

I'm sure a lot of teams (including mine) could just USE their robot from last year. It has everything you need: a manipulator large enough to pick up an inner tube is large enough to pick up the balls, and if their manipulator could reach the top row on the Rack, then it can reach the balls also. At most, their old robot will need some modifications.

I don't like this game because it's not very challenging. See, you can make a drivable box bot in a day, and have it score points. You can also recycle a lot of ideas from last year. I really hope that teams choose to challenge themselves and go for the complex stuff like the IR board and autonomous. At least that's what I want my team to do.

[BBnum3]

I voted for Hate it. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I definitely don't like it.

There's no defense. Ideally in this game no robots on opposing alliances would even come in contact with one another. If FIRST wants to be as popular as sport they should include sports-like strategies into the games. The argument can be made that this is like NASCAR, but as I am not a fan of it I don't find this game appealing. It's surprising to me that this is the first year bumpers have been required because robot-robot contact is not a large part of the game.

Also, I think watching robots go around in circles could get boring pretty fast.

Another problem I see is IR interference. If each team is allowed 2 RoboCoaches then it's possible to have 12 remotes all going off in the beginning of the game. The video we watched at kickoff said that interference would certainly adversely affect the IR board. Hopefully there's a solution to this, as it would not be fun to have your robot controlled by another team's remote.

That said, one positive thing I can say about this game is that it definitely allows rookie teams to make a robot that scores on its own. All your robot has to be able to do is drive and you can score points for your team.


I'll probably end up changing my mind as the weeks progress, but this is how I see things at this point in time.

[redtide]

hey does anyone know if the balls have to be removed from the over pass to score the bonus points for being on the overpass at the end of the game

does anyone know which way the ball has to leave from the overpas

thanks in advance

[Jon K.]

Originally Posted by BBnum3

Another problem I see is IR interference. If each team is allowed 2 RoboCoaches then it's possible to have 12 remotes all going off in the beginning of the game. The video we watched at kickoff said that interference would certainly adversely affect the IR board. Hopefully there's a solution to this, as it would not be fun to have your robot controlled by another team's remote.

Originally Posted by FRC08Manual

ROBOCOACH: A pre-college student team member designated as the only team member
permitted to provide external stimuli to the ROBOT from either of the two ALLIANCE
ROBOCOACH STATIONS. There is one ROBOCOACH per TEAM.

At most there will be 6 remotes being used at any one time.

[BBnum3]

Originally Posted by Jon K.

At most there will be 6 remotes being used at any one time.

Oops, my bad, Hadn't been able to download the manual yet. Thanks for pointing that out. It's still a fair amount of remotes though.

[Kat Kononov]

Originally Posted by BBnum3

I voted for Hate it. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I definitely don't like it.

Also, I think watching robots go around in circles could get boring pretty fast.

I'll probably end up changing my mind as the weeks progress, but this is how I see things at this point in time.

I exactly agree with you.

[SSMike]

I have a few questions:

I wonder what the refs will do if a robot breaks down in the middle of the track, thereby obstructing it. Will it be a penalty?

During the Kickoff broadcast, they gave a brief tutorial about the IR board. They said that different remotes can disrupt the receptors. Does this mean that the robocoaches can disrupt another team's IR board?

During the game practice, two red "bots" passed the trackballs back and forth. On would lift it over the bar and then the other would pass it back. Could you hypothetically do this the entire game, as long as you are not obstructing the path?

[dtengineering]

"And now for something completely different..."

should have been the lead in to the introduction. The GDC has caused a bit of a paradigm shift for teams this year... which is a good thing. No longer is pushing power going to be a factor in design... but cornering ability will be.

We're switching from building tanks to building hot rods this year, people!

This kind of change is good as it keeps teams from doing too much pre-season preparation. While pre-season prep is good, I can pretty much guarantee that every team is re-evaluating their pre-season drivetrain plans from the ground up and we are all starting from scratch today.

Way to go GDC... this looks like another winner.

Jason