anyone have any ideas about next years game?

[548swimmer]

What about a game forcing a low profile.

The challenge would be to get small (6 inchish) balls into a hopper on the back of the opposing robot. The balls could come from a netted area where the net is 2ft above the ground. They could be kicked out to the other robots who could then attempt to score. To incorporate the human player, the balls could be dumped during a 10sec period occurring twice per minute into a ball return. The humans would then feed the balls through a chute back into the netted area.

[Katie_UPS]

Originally Posted by 548swimmer

What about a game forcing a low profile.

The challenge would be to get small (6 inchish) balls into a hopper on the back of the opposing robot. The balls could come from a netted area where the net is 2ft above the ground. They could be kicked out to the other robots who could then attempt to score. To incorporate the human player, the balls could be dumped during a 10sec period occurring twice per minute into a ball return. The humans would then feed the balls through a chute back into the netted area.

Hate to suppress any creativity, but this is pretty much just a combination of Lunacy and Breakaway.

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by 548swimmer

What about a game forcing a low profile.

The challenge would be to get small (6 inchish) balls into a hopper on the back of the opposing robot. The balls could come from a netted area where the net is 2ft above the ground. They could be kicked out to the other robots who could then attempt to score. To incorporate the human player, the balls could be dumped during a 10sec period occurring twice per minute into a ball return. The humans would then feed the balls through a chute back into the netted area.

Sounds like '04 (dumping balls) plus '09 (goals pulled by robots) plus '10 (kicking)

Maybe the balls could be above the net and the robots under it, the biggest issue seems to be driver visibility and entanglement

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by Bjenks548

Just a thought, wouldn't giving us really small game pieces such as marbles be really hard? Trying to grab and fire thouse things would be a fun chalenge. Also not letting them get swept up into unwanted parts of the bot would be bad.

What happens if marbles get in the robots? how would you keep track of all of them?

sry about the double post

[Bjenks548]

Originally Posted by PAR_WIG1350

What happens if marbles get in the robots? how would you keep track of all of them?

It could be a test at making a robot marble proof... soon to lead into water proof.

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by Bjenks548

It could be a test at making a robot marble proof... soon to lead into water proof.

I'm currently working on a watergame drivetrain. If you can call it a drivetrain... I'll upload when I finish.

[kgzak]

I like the idea of mobile goals. It makes the game interesting. They do not have to be pulled by other robots but maybe have the goals be able to move.

I would like to have a game where you can hold and posses and carry multiple balls. This year was fun and I liked it but I think it would be more fun to design something that can do more manipulation of balls. Maybe not even balls but some odd shape making it even harder to manipulate.

I do not want to get rid of autonomous. That is one of my favorite parts of building the robot, programing autonomous. The programers have some interesting ideas for autonomous next year, even though we don't know the game yet (anyone know how to make a GUI in Labview?)

[lemiant]

What about a game that was not on the floor {example:

Metal bars run width-wise along the field. The bars are about 1m (1 yard for you Americans) apart and 2m-3m off the floor. Robots start on raised platforms (like the bases of the towers this year), and are not allowed to touch the floor. There could be one (or a few) goals on each end of the field, and the aim is to get the playing pieces into the opponents goals. If you were an advanced team you could move from bar to bar to collect balls, but rookie teams could just travel back and forth along one bar, playing defense.
}

How's that for throwing a wrench in your drivetrain?

As an added plus it is themed after a game, FOOSBALL!

[theprgramerdude]

How would we get the robots on the bars if they're 2-3m off the floor?

[lemiant]

Pull ups, just like the end game this year: or there could be a rule that you could start on the bar, within the space extending vertically above your platform.

[PAR_WIG1350]

It could be like a giant spiderweb with I-beams to ride on and hang on to. Maybe it would popularize controls based on polar coordinates.

or, maybe the robots could be giant stationary arms.

[TomH]

How about a tennis-themed game where robots have to move balls beyond the opponent into a goal that is about 27' wide (width of field)? There would be a net in the middle, and penalties given for any robot that hits the net, and there would be multiple balls on the field. The balls would have to be retrieved by a robot- sort of the way you would with empty cells in Lunacy, except they would be placed in on the floor.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by TomH

How about a tennis-themed game where robots have to move balls beyond the opponent into a goal that is about 27' wide (width of field)? There would be a net in the middle, and penalties given for any robot that hits the net, and there would be multiple balls on the field. The balls would have to be retrieved by a robot- sort of the way you would with empty cells in Lunacy, except they would be placed in on the floor.

maybe for auto for something like that the robot can only hit the ball from behind the baseline or whatever represents the baseline like the serve that starts a tennis match

[Akash Rastogi]

Maple syrup game, corn starch game, Jell-O game, butter game, condensed milk game, gatorade game. Maple syrup game gives too much of an advantage to the Canadians actually, nevermind. Water games are so overrated.

Am I close yet?

.

[Robert Cawthon]

Originally Posted by TomH

How about a tennis-themed game where robots have to move balls beyond the opponent into a goal that is about 27' wide (width of field)? There would be a net in the middle, and penalties given for any robot that hits the net, and there would be multiple balls on the field. The balls would have to be retrieved by a robot- sort of the way you would with empty cells in Lunacy, except they would be placed in on the floor.

That sounds like PONG. For you youngsters, that was the first video game available for the public to play. I would say that for this year, it would be too close to breakaway, but does hold some promise for a game down the road.