What do you think of the design of the game?

[Andrew Schreiber]

I must say that this game is unique. As a software person I am not a huge fan of the Hybrid mode. Especially the rules about not using sequences of buttons to do different things. Also, the fact that we are not allowed to use the camera this year seems like a step in the wrong direction. Maybe there are teams out there that would prefer to use a camera and have the robot find the balls itself rather than have a human do it. Yes the camera was a hassle for a lot of people and was often too much for a rookie team but for veteran teams, or just as a fun thing for the programmers to play with while they waited for the day of ship to get the robot it was quite useful. And besides, Darpa didn't have people with remotes controlling their robots why should FRC?

My personal complaints about hybrid mode aside I like this game. I mean it is very very unique. And as far as an equalizer between rookies and veterans it looks to be a success. I can't say how it will be to watch, it is just too nascar for me, but I can say that already I have had a lot of fun thinking up ways to play it. From a learning standpoint the students have a lot of different things to learn in this game.

I agree that there should be some sort of walls or maybe netting around the field to prevent those big balls from leaving the field straight into the sound/scoring tables.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your robots.

[ebarker]

Personally I really like this years program. It has something for everyone.

I like the fact that a team of limited means and experience can participate in a meaningful way and feel good and earn points and have good experience.

I like the fact that there is a lot of potential for automation controls gurus to create cool control things at all sorts of levels of complexity.

I like the fact that a team with a lot of mechanical manipulation talents can strut their stuff.

I like the fact that there is enough twists and turns in the rules to keep young minds a churning.

I like this game.

[Faith]

I like it.

It provides a big challenge (hurdling a heavy, slippery, BIG ball over a 6.5ft high, 3ft wide overpass) for veteran teams to try, while at the same time giving rookie teams a challenge that is still within their reach (manipulating the ball to get it around the field, or making a robot that can quickly circle the field).

It may have some traffic dilemmas, but I don't think anyone will be able to tell until the first competition. It is the same size field, but that wall in the middle makes it seem so much smaller... We'll see.

I also like this game because it makes choosing a strategy very difficult. There are so many ways to score, so many ways to work together as a team to get the balls around the track faster, more efficiently, or decide to work less as a team and have each robot just try to score as many points as they can. Or defensive strategies can be considered, such as blocking the ball as someone is trying to hurdle, or hurdling at the right time so as to slow someone else down, or many other strategies. Scouting will be important, as you don't just care about the robot's abilities, but also their favored strategy. Autonomous mode diagrams to help you decide how to best defend against an opponent or how to avoid autonomous defense will be less reliable, because in hybrid mode it seems much easier to change your path, whether at the beginning of the 15 seconds or on the fly.

I think this will be a spectacular game.

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by Katy

FIRST should be commended for doing an excellent job in designing a field that low-budget teams can easily emulate even with severe space and budgetary constraints.

Well that's my two cents. What do you all think?

I agree with a lot of what you said; it was very insightful and well-written. Although there are a lot of changes which I would have preffered the old way, I think that the new game is a nice change, and that FIRST did a good job coming up with something new and exciting.

However... I disagree with the part of your post which I quoted above. It is hard to build the field if you are short on space; the center divider is 27 feet long, the overpass is 27 feet across, and it's 6.5 feet high. That's pretty hard to build and store if you don't have much space to work with. Back in Aim High, we had trouble finding a place for a cut-out sheet propped upright for a corner goal, a half ramp, and a high goal top half... and those are a lot smaller than the overpass/divider. Given, you don't have to build the whole overpass/divider... so maybe I'm wrong.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Damien1247

I must say that this game is unique. As a software person I am not a huge fan of the Hybrid mode. Especially the rules about not using sequences of buttons to do different things. Also, the fact that we are not allowed to use the camera this year seems like a step in the wrong direction. Maybe there are teams out there that would prefer to use a camera and have the robot find the balls itself rather than have a human do it. Yes the camera was a hassle for a lot of people and was often too much for a rookie team but for veteran teams, or just as a fun thing for the programmers to play with while they waited for the day of ship to get the robot it was quite useful. And besides, Darpa didn't have people with remotes controlling their robots why should FRC?

Uhmmm.... can you point to anywhere in the rules where it says you are not allowed to use a camera?

"Not including a camera in the Kit Of Parts," and "not being allowed to use a camera" are two different things.

-dave

[Katy]

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

It is hard to build the field if you are short on space; the center divider is 27 feet long, the overpass is 27 feet across, and it's 6.5 feet high. That's pretty hard to build and store if you don't have much space to work with. Back in Aim High, we had trouble finding a place for a cut-out sheet propped upright for a corner goal, a half ramp, and a high goal top half... and those are a lot smaller than the overpass/divider. Given, you don't have to build the whole overpass/divider... so maybe I'm wrong.

I was more imagining teams would make the rail (maybe not even at full length) and then just throw on a pair of ladders at the right height with some clamps for prototyping. The center divider doesn't appear to be a very significant visibility barrier so you could just approximate it with some traffic cones or something. I don't know when I talk about low budget prototyping I mean cardboard and thumbtacks sometimes...I mean if it works why pour extra money in to it?

Also about the defense issue. Check out this excellent post about defense in this game. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=61047