[BB] 2010 Game Hint #1

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by Joe Schornak

Of course, this is probably all wrong, and the object will be used as some sort of judging device in the pits. FIRST would do that, just to spite us.

That would be VERY funny, but I also do think that if it's a part of the field then it will be by the driver's stations. Maybe the human players feed balls into the track, and there is some kind of shooting mechanism firing the balls across the field - what if the robots have to catch the balls in mid air for an extra bonus! WOW! Now THAT is unrealistic!

[Karibou]

Question - does anyone have proof that those poles aren't 39 and a half feet long?


Sorry, I couldn't resist...

[kgzak]

Idea 1.
It will be used to hold the game pieces at the beginning of the match and the robots will have to connect to the two pins in order to get the game piece.

Idea 2.
It will be a track at each side of the filed on an angle that causes the balls to roll to each end of the field. Again used as a start of game game piece holder, or scoring rack.

Idea 3.
This is not used in the game at all but rather what the idea the piece is demonstrating is the theme of the game. Like if it is elevator like the game is based on raising/lowering objects.

I'm probably wrong but thats all I've got for now.

[gallo26]

This whole thing could be an experiment. The GDC probably took bets on how many posts they could get off of a random CAD render, and bonus points for how many people go insane from thinking about it!

I'm going to pay close attention to Dean during his long kickoff speech. in 2008 He continued to say Overdrive, claiming it wasn't a hint, yet it was. Anything could be a hint now... hmmm... the paranoia sets in. Mark down 1 for insane...

[RoboMaster]

Yeah, last year he said "slippery slope" and that was a definite biggie. Now we know. Does he do that a lot? I've only been around for 2 years, I wouldn't know past 2008.

One thing to think about is whether or not those nubs on the ends are actually push-in-spring-loaded-pins that attach to holes. They might just be latching tabs. Actually I think someone mentioned this already, with a reference to some hospital device. Like with an L shape where you slide it in and then turn. Or maybe something else?

[lbarger]

Originally Posted by gallo26

I spent a few minutes trying to recreate this in Inventor. I completely guessed on a lot of the stuff, so it looks different from the original model, but I think the CAD renders will display some things. I apologize if my post seems huge because of the picture size

Good work Gallo26. Try making the sheet piece (Lexan?) not perpendicular to the rods. So that if the bracket were vertical, the rods would be sloped. I think this might yield the reflection seen.

[RobertG]

This is not a game element. It is a model of part of the field. We will have a large divider in the middle of the field with a low opening and holes to pass game pieces to the other side. My reasoning is based on the "all is not as it appears" hint, my personal experience of the difficulty of bending polycarbonate, and the resemblance of the poles to the fence along previous year's fields. Also, I think this is just a representation of the middle middle of the field since there appears to be a reflection of another pole in front of a blue background.

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by Joe Schornak

2. More likely, the Lexan serves as a mounting point for some sort of ball-counting sensor. This would allow accurate real-time scoring of large numbers of balls. It could include a color sensor, in which case the balls are multi-colored and worth different values for each color.

I envision a track system mounted above the driver stations on each end of the field (assuming normal field shape) or on the sides where the payload special1sts were in 2009. Balls start at some central point in the field, and must be collected by the robots and placed or shot into some sort of recepticle, whereupon they fall onto the track and roll past the ball counter into a return device. Balls are worth different point values depending on their color, and perhaps begin in different places based on their color, with the high-value ones the most difficult to collect.

Reading this made me think of this...



Multi-colored balls? Different point value?

Snooker anyone?



I FIRST field does resemble a billiard table...

[Greg Needel]

So I got a little bored while watching National Lampoon's Christmas vacation and drew up my version of this in CAD so we could look at it from other views. maybe this will help out deciphering this clue.

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by lbarger

Good work Gallo26. Try making the sheet piece (Lexan?) not perpendicular to the rods. So that if the bracket were vertical, the rods would be sloped. I think this might yield the reflection seen.

See this post for color references:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=138

But wouldn't the purple line not be parallel to the edge the purple arrow is pointing to if the lexan was not perpendicular?

Or are they not parallel? The reflected angle is double the actual bent angle, so maybe, since there would only need to be a tiny bit of deflection from vertical?

I'll zoom way in on it in photoshop, and see how "vertical" the purple things actually are.

Update: They're very vertical.

[gallo26]

Originally Posted by RobertG

This is not a game element. It is a model of part of the field. We will have a large divider in the middle of the field with a low opening and holes to pass game pieces to the other side. My reasoning is based on the "all is not as it appears" hint, my personal experience of the difficulty of bending polycarbonate, and the resemblance of the poles to the fence along previous year's fields. Also, I think this is just a representation of the middle middle of the field since there appears to be a reflection of another pole in front of a blue background.

That makes a lot of sense! They just made everything else invisible in the render except for that blue image and that other pole. It connects to something, and because those poles visible are symmetrical, it's most likely the middle. Nice reasoning!

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

So I got a little bored while watching National Lampoon's Christmas vacation

I had that very problem a few nights ago, but I didn't do anything, I just sat there and stayed bored.

[R.C.]

I also believe its just a part of the field and I feel it may just be a place to put the actual game piece on.

-RC

[MrForbes]

More likely just a bracket that another part of the field goes on.

[kgzak]

after viewing 340x4xLife's post I think that they put some type of mechanism to return the balls to one spot, or recycle the balls to field. This would require high goals in order for the mechanism to work (gravity) = Idea 4.