2011 Game Hint #1

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Robert Cawthon

That one is easy! Cubes! When pushed together and stacked correctly, they make the stairs! We have to make the stairs, climb up, and do something (perhaps drop a tennis ball down a vertical tube) to score.

That sounds actually very intruiging! Build the field in your favor to reach something.

[EJB2081]

What if there was a sort of train car with an open top that you have to load a ball int?

could circle the field overdrive style but on train tracks outlining the field

[Robert Cawthon]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

If for some reason the mirror-image does play a role in the game...

What if the game were mirror-imaged? Autonomous mode last, AFTER the 2 minutes of teleoperation?

My head hurts thinking about trying to program that one!

[Sam Lipscomb]

Originally Posted by GGCO

We need to think about what would be exciting for our audience (a group of non-nerds) to watch. Personally, I don't think watching robots build stairs is an exciting spectator sport.

I doubt that climbing stairs would be the entire game. But keep in mind that one of Dean's inventions is the iBOT, a wheelchair that can climb stairs. There's no reason it couldn't be one aspect of the 20th anniversary game, just like it was one aspect of the 2004 game!

[EJB2081]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

If for some reason the mirror-image does play a role in the game...

What if the game were mirror-imaged? Autonomous mode last, AFTER the 2 minutes of teleoperation?

having autonomous after would put in a need for the camera they tried to implement before.....

just saying it would add to the bring in aspects from every year 20th anniversary thing

[hornetshornets]

For all those who have suggested loco-motion to mean something to do with trains, Amtrak started in May of 1971. That would mean that 2011 is Amtrak's 40 year anniversary

[Karibou]

There is another picture of Little Eva with a column, so I don't think that the column itself is as important as Little Eva is:
http://katiehann.files.wordpress.com...ittle-eva2.jpg
Maybe it is a field element, but I don't want to speculate on that right now >.>

The image being flipped probably does have something to do with the game, though I don't know what. Maybe the two sides of the field are flipped versions of each other? I'm just saying this because they DID give us a pretty-much-straight-off-of-Google picture of the Opah two years ago, and they would be kind of ignorant to not expect us to figure out any picture (that wasn't generated by them) hint really quickly, no matter what state it's in.

What I find kind of interesting is that the picture covers a longer area than the one that is on the record cover. Look - in the image provided by FIRST, you can see from her right elbow down. I wonder where they got this picture from? I doubt it's important, but now I'm rather curious.

[BEEKMAN]

Yeah, I doubt that the image itself has much to do with the game, i feel like FIRST in the past more likes to do whats IN the image (Ie Moon fish...)

[dbeckwith]

I notice that the column seems cut off right at about her height. Maybe part of the reason she's in the picture is to show that the poles are only about 5'6"? The pole also seems kind of reflective.

[dodar]

Maybe they are saying that we are going to show you more but we are going to be deceptive of the direction we are sending you. Also, another #5 reference, the record cover has 5 L's.

[alicen]

So after reading through many of the posts in this thread, I came to a sort of muddy idea.

The hint seems to be pointing at "Locomotion" and possibly stairs. To me, this says rails, cargo and climbing. Others mentioned how it might be a mish-mash of some previous game components to create this one, so here's what I've got:

Stairs could mean anything really. It doesn't have to necessarily be exact stairs, it could be a series of steps that aren't exactly the same height from each other, and aren't even going in the same direction. This would be difficult to pull off in mass to create a field, but it's something to keep in mind when you think about stairs. Stairs have also been seen in other games, so it adds to the combination of things from the past theory.

Rails can be seen in the 1998 FRC game Ladder Logic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder_Logic). What if you have to climb up a staircase, or a column or anything really to put the game piece on a set of rails? Could be very interesting. The rails also tie directly back to the past year's game for transporting the game piece back onto the field. What if this year, it takes it off?

This brings me to the last part, I saw where people had mentioned "STAND by" and that made me think of Triple Play from 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Play_(FIRST)). I was a volunteer that year, and it was probably the scariest game to volunteer for in my opinion, especially if you were the "automated loader" person haha. But for this year's game, what if the human player for the teams was in the stand by box to catch the game piece? After they've got it, they probably have to do something more than just throw it back onto the field, but it's a thought.

Karibou -- I was looking through google images and came across the exact game hint picture (but reversed) when I did a search for Little Eva, so I imagine that the GDC grabbed it from there or another similar place.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

Don't even get me started on the Woodie Flowers "Well even though it's against the rules, we'll allow it because they put so much effort into it" debate from 2002.

That was only on the tape measures, IIRC. A number of the mini-bots were built before that ruling, and built not to entangle. I know 330's had a scissors lift protecting the power cord--until that debate, when most of that lift came off.

Back to the matter at hand: I think the important parts are a) that the picture was reversed and b) who is in the picture. The other part is album name/song name, because there are easier ways to get the person.

The column doesn't factor in here, yet. (Until hint #2, that is.)

[r2davis2]

I hate to be a party-pooper, but couldn't it just be a hint at the name, probably locomotion. Didn't Bill mention something in a recent blog about finally figuring out a name for the game, and wasnt there a hint only for the name in the past(don't know the year but remember someone mentioning it)

Aside from that I can't see us having to build stairs because the first image that comes to mind is a robot on collapsing stairs landing on another robot.

With the chained-together idea, what if it means working together and its another 4v0 type game, or a single alliance

[dodar]

Originally Posted by EricH

That was only on the tape measures, IIRC. A number of the mini-bots were built before that ruling, and built not to entangle. I know 330's had a scissors lift protecting the power cord--until that debate, when most of that lift came off.

Back to the matter at hand: I think the important parts are a) that the picture was reversed and b) who is in the picture. The other part is album name/song name, because there are easier ways to get the person.

The column doesn't factor in here, yet. (Until hint #2, that is.)

Now this is gonna be my 5th year in FIRST but 1st as a mentor, but I dont really remember many game hints but whats the average time period between game hints being released?

[Mike Marandola]

I have identified the woman as Eva Narcissus Boyd or "Little Eva".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eva
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000024VI6