ACTION!

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Posted by Dodd Stacy.

Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.

Posted on 7/22/99 1:40 PM MST


In Reply to: Too bad we can't posted by Tom Wible on 7/22/99 7:40 AM MST:



: The task aspect of F.I.R.S.T. is what differentiates it from Robot Wars.:

Ah, yes, the task, the complex game of strategy and - this year - teamwork with your ally. Could Michael fly through the air for the slam dunk task with Hulk Hogan on his back?

The discussion lately seems to focus on how much the design of the game and the rules and their interpretation by the referees should limit defensive play from interfering with execution
of the offense. I'm totally supportive of requiring robust construction, expecting to need self righting capability, defining a free-for-all zone like the puck, and so on, but I have two bases for
advocating the continuance (and refinement) of limits on defensive engagement.

First, the sports perspective. What sport does not place limits on what the defense can do to prevent the offensive shooter from scoring? OK, there probably are some, so I'm not a sports
nut. But you can't grab the hoop shooter, and you can't goal tend. You can't interfere with the pass receiver, and you can't rough the passer. You can't even tie up a boxer in a clinch! Etc.
Why not? Probably because no goals would be scored, and the games would all ultimately degenerate to brawling - robot wars. OK, but then there would never be Air Jordan. We'd never
see artistry, grace, and magical movement in sports. What athlete would bother to develop outrageous moves to amaze, delight, and inspire us - to challenge the way we think about the
limits of the possible?

Then, the engineering perspective. I hope the young people in FIRST will see engineering as a fundamentally creative endeavor, a pushing of the envelope. I think at a basic level that to DO
is hard, to prevent is easy, the natural order. Flying is hard, knocking down is easy. That's why criticism is forbidden in brainstorming. That's why first we had the Wright Flyer, and only
now we have armored aircraft. Look at Dean's wonderful development to liberate the chairbound. We have yaw rate sensors in the kit - how long before some whacko team fields a robot with
a spherical ball unicycle drive? A long time, I think, if we tilt toward no-holds-barred games. If we don't preserve some room in the game for stumbling around with new ideas, we'll never see
what they might grow up to be.

So I vote for 6 - 7 in the poll.

Dodd