Next Year's Game?

[Fe_Will]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Thinking of ways that the FIRST program can help with global challenges such as your suggestion/example that you've offered, is really cool. It is visionary and reflects big picture thinking.

Personally, I think that any game challenge that provides students with an opportunity to learn and demonstrate problem solving skills on multiple levels is more important than selecting a single issue to focus on. Not to down play the auto industry but there are other sectors of the economy that are hit just as hard or harder. I'd prefer if the FIRST Robotics Competition stuck with helping people recognize that science, math, engineering and technology are viable options and inspiring them to follow those pursuits.

Game Suggestions:

• A fun, fast paced game
• A meaningful autonomous that has an impact on the outcome of the game (either by awarding points, triggering an event or both)
• At least 2 different types of surfaces for the robot to interact with besides the driving surface (different size/shape game pieces, goals, pull up bars, etc.)
• Multiple ways to earn points (to the degree that an average team would have to choose which way they would score)
• A dramatic end game event (pull up bar in '04/ ramps in '06... needs to be a "Are they going to make it?" feeling)

Robot Suggestions:

• No more kitbots (If your robot came from a box and assembly was measured in hours maybe FTC or VRC is for you.)
• No more bumpers (Bring back the days when winning the Motorola Quality Award meant something...)
• Unfolding robots
• Additional weight to compensate for the new control system