pic: Finished robot image

[Andrew Schuetze]

loading photo ...

[TheNotoriousKid]

Nice...no need to reinvent the wheel and use your time to simplify this seemingly complex game. too bad what that bot is doin now is illegal.

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Congrats on finishing, use your next six weeks to make it that much better! Don't forget to make it legal!

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

Don't forget to make it legal!

Yeah-- that T-shirt launcher just might violate the projectile rule.

[Pavan Dave]

I think that like Rack n' Roll to Tetra Madness (or whatever the game was called), you can take your robot and mod the manipulator a little bit to grab the big ball and you'll be fine. But to place it the ball for the bonus points, that is what takes the real work....

[daftpunk79]

no fair...congratz tho...and theyre right...MAKE IT LEGAL.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by TheNotoriousKid

too bad what that bot is doin now is illegal.

Depends on what alliance that robot is on, doesn't it?

[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Pavan

I think that like Rack n' Roll to Tetra Madness (or whatever the game was called), you can take your robot and mod the manipulator a little bit to grab the big ball and you'll be fine. But to place it the ball for the bonus points, that is what takes the real work....

WHAT?! The tubes were only 7" in diameter (around the edge, the way most teams grabed them)! This thing is massive! It's almost bigger than the robot! I myself had great trouble carrying it, imagine trying to build a robot to do that...

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by TheNotoriousKid

Nice...no need to reinvent the wheel and use your time to simplify this seemingly complex game. too bad what that bot is doin now is illegal.

Sorry, how is punching the ball from underneath illegal? could you point me to the section of the rules you are referring to? My team was thinking of doing something along those lines.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII

WHAT?! The tubes were only 7" in diameter (around the edge, the way most teams grabed them)! This thing is massive! It's almost bigger than the robot! I myself had great trouble carrying it, imagine trying to build a robot to do that...

Actually, at 40" diameter, it is bigger than the normal footprint of a FRC robot.

[galewind]

no offense, but what I think was even more impressive is that you got your half field already built!!!

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Sorry, how punching the ball from underneath illegal? could you point me to the section of the rules you are referring too? My team was thinking of doing something along those lines.

<G36> HOME STRETCH Height Restriction – ROBOTS in the HOME STRETCH of the opposing ALLIANCE can not be more than 6 feet tall. A PENALTY will be assigned for each infraction.

In the opposing "Home Stretch" it will cost you a penalty.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

In the opposing "Home Stretch" it will cost you a penalty.

Right, so the assumption from the pic was that he was in the opposing home stretch. So now i'm seeing some of the complexity of the strategies of the game. Depending on the placement of the balls, is it more advantageous to leave the ball on the rack for the static points, or risk the penalty in hopes of making up the difference in bonus from hurdles or other ball bonus points.

[Coach Norm]

Originally Posted by galewind

no offense, but what I think was even more impressive is that you got your half field already built!!!

The Half Field was our Kickoff location in San Antonio. IOne advantage to hosting the kickoff.

Thanks Andrew for the hospitality and the tour of your shop while we were there. It was great for my kids to see the excitement of the day and the organization of your shop.

The half field also helped us get in mind what we need to do for our practice field at home.

[Andrew Schuetze]

This whole not taller than six feet in the opposing alliance's home stretch has got to be sorted out fairly quickly. How else is one supposed to get the trackball down from that side without encurring a penalty I read the intent of the GDC as not designing robots to prevent scoring of bonus points by blocking. a.k.a. the the rule from 'Aim High' preventing teams from extending and blocking shots on goal via a tall mechanism. My reading is that this particular rule is meant for that purpose and not to penalize teams who are attempting to get their trackball down from the overhead ladder thingy.

P.S. As Coach Norm wrote, we were testing an old robot on the field built for the local kick-off here in San Antonio. The field was built by a group of craftsmen sworn to secrecy by FIRST. We hosted the event in our school's auditorium so after every other team had time on the field and took delivery of their kits, the field was ours to experiment upon. We also paid for the materials for the construction of this field. So the expenses and time put into planning and hosting a local kick-off pay dividends in this regard