Soccer Ball Sold Out

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by rfolea

"Well hopefully we will see two things out of this:
1) a lesson learned for distribution"

Why does everyone refer to last year as "the First Time?" Does no one remember the poof ball fiasco - that company was totally blind sided. Said they could have easily been prepared if someone had just mentioned it was coming ...

Stupid Question - I can't find the spec's for the ball in the documentation - can someone point me towards it? Is it the HS300 everyone is referring to?

Agreed. Last year was by no means the first time.

2010: DTI Soccer Balls are unobtainium, not going back into production till the competitions have started
2009: Orbit balls became unobtainium, Blip Toys wasnt going to manufacture more till after competitions started
2008: Trackballs were DIFFICULT to obtain, but were not so bad because there were so few in the game, and were expensive.
2007: The tubes were not easy to get until after the games were done.
2006: The poof ball manufacturer was blindsided, they got really hard to get
2005: Used game pieces teams could make themselves.
2004: The 5 pt balls became hard to get the exact model, luckily, lots of similar 14" rubber balls exist in high school gymnasiums
2003: The sterilite bins used were unobtainium for months after the competitions.

Thats as far back as i've been involved... FIRST game pieces becoming unobtainium by the second week of January happens regularly. FIRST needs to warn the manufacturers adequately.

[TheOtherGuy]

So perhaps teams that get the official ball early can go to several stores and provide a list of balls with similar qualities? Given this is an engineering competition, maybe the large amount of engineers/aspiring-engineers can actually solve this problem...

[David Brinza]

Maybe something has changed at DTI Sports!

Their website indicates that they are currently selling DTI HS300 Club size 5, white soccer balls, the Official Breakaway game piece!

I just ordered two. I am now 99.44% happy (I would be completely happy if we got a ball with the KOP).

[DtD]

Honestly I don't know what the fuss is about. A socer ball is a socer ball. Our team didn't even consider getting an official ball, we are going to design our robot to use the misc size 5 soccer balls we all have lying around our houses.

I can understand the issue with Lunacy, where the game pieces were very unique and diffrent some anything else.

~DtD

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by DtD

Honestly I don't know what the fuss is about. A socer ball is a socer ball. Our team didn't even consider getting an official ball, we are going to design our robot to use the misc size 5 soccer balls we all have lying around our houses.

While there is no problem with this line of thinking, you will be giving up valuable understanding of certain variables. You just have to remember that the game pieces that will be on the field will not be the same soccer ball you used to build and practice with your robot. Surfaces, stitching, bounce, and even inflation can pose either drastic or minute differences that could potentially make any of your mechanisms unsuitable.

[rwood359]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

While there is no problem with this line of thinking, you will be giving up valuable understanding of certain variables. You just have to remember that the game pieces that will be on the field will not be the same soccer ball you used to build and practice with your robot. Surfaces, stitching, bounce, and even inflation can pose either drastic or minute differences that could potentially make any of your mechanisms unsuitable.

And don't forget color, if you want to ball handle during autonomous. We're getting the Ice Blue ones - will probably use off the shelf white for ball tracking checkout.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by rwood359

And don't forget color, if you want to ball handle during autonomous. We're getting the Ice Blue ones - will probably use off the shelf white for ball tracking checkout.

Depending on what type of sensor you are using to try and locate the ball, color may or may not be a factor. If we use a sensor to locate balls in autonomous I doubt it is going to be the camera. I think something like an Ultrasonic or IR setup is more the direction I would go.

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by DtD

Honestly I don't know what the fuss is about. A socer ball is a socer ball. Our team didn't even consider getting an official ball, we are going to design our robot to use the misc size 5 soccer balls we all have lying around our houses.

I can understand the issue with Lunacy, where the game pieces were very unique and diffrent some anything else.

~DtD

The outer surface finish and stitching can vary significantly among soccer balls. Depending how teams choose to interact with the balls, those parameters can have a big effect on the behavior of the ball.

While it may be fun to design a robot that will manage a variety of soccer balls well, we're just trying to develop a design solution for the official game piece. I'm hoping we won't have a repeat of the Poof Balls in Atlanta in 2006 (i.e. a new "game challenge").

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

Maybe something has changed at DTI Sports!

Their website indicates that they are currently selling DTI HS300 Club size 5, white soccer balls, the Official Breakaway game piece!

I just ordered two. I am now 99.44% happy (I would be completely happy if we got a ball with the KOP).

Perhaps DTI woke up and said wait a minute, theres ~2000 teams who probably each want about 2 balls, we can make a lot of money here. Hey boys, put those balls back into production NOW.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Perhaps DTI woke up and said wait a minute, theres ~2000 teams who probably each want about 2 balls, we can make a lot of money here. Hey boys, put those balls back into production NOW.

Most likely because now in the product details section they mention that it is the official game piece of the 2010 robotics competition Breakaway.

Thank you DTI for helping out in the ways you can at the moment, it is appreciated!

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Perhaps DTI woke up and said wait a minute, theres ~2000 teams who probably each want about 2 balls, we can make a lot of money here. Hey boys, put those balls back into production NOW.

Or maybe they have an inventory/ordering system that is not particularly robust and anyone ordering one of these balls will be getting a phone call about a back order.

[Jared Russell]

LOL, when you add one of the balls to your cart, under "Stock" it has the infinity sign.

Maybe they aren't unobtainium after all?

[Dillon Compton]

All,

I just spoke with a DTI rep - they are still out of the HS300 series soccer ball. They will, if you call to order and mention you are with a FIRST team, sell you the HS500 series replacement at the same price as an HS300. The rep confirmed with me that they have started production on a new stock of balls and expect to be receiving a new stock of HS300 series soccer balls in a couple of weeks.

Clearly their website does not reflect current inventory, and you should confirm your orders via phone.

//Dillon Compton

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Perhaps DTI woke up and said wait a minute, theres ~2000 teams who probably each want about 2 balls, we can make a lot of money here. Hey boys, put those balls back into production NOW.

They didn't promise immediate shipment on their website (I wouldn't be surprised if the balls are produced off-shore). It wouldn't be very useful for us receive the balls a month from now. I've left a voice-mail with DTI Sports inquiring about the ship date for my order. I will post their response when I receive it.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Perhaps DTI woke up and said wait a minute, theres ~2000 teams who probably each want about 2 balls, we can make a lot of money here. Hey boys, put those balls back into production NOW.

Not to mention that some teams put together an entire field so that's 12 balls + extras.

Our team went out and got a couple of similar balls, but according to the some the other posts, the finish is a bit different, so I think we might need to order some...hm...