Team Update #1

[Boydean]

I find this new contraint quite enjoyable. Then again, I'm not on a team.

There has always been talk from year to year about "standardizing" certain parts of the robot across teams to allow them to be able to be switched out at competitions. I think FIRST just laid a golden egg right in your lap to do something like this and make it actually happen (in fact, they are encouraging it).

Forget about the "lack of innovation" that has come from this rule, and think about how fun it'll be brainstorming with other teams in the pit to get their minibot to work with your hostbot.

Just my two cents.

[Nemisis]

I must agree!

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Nemisis

I must agree!

...with?

[Nawaid Ladak]

Originally Posted by EricH

Mods, could this thread be given a 24-hour cooldown? I think we all need a break.

I second this request. Hopefully this gets people to stop complaining and start working on their teams bots.

[Steve W]

I was thinking the same thing. 24 hour rest. Reopening tomorrow evening.

[548swimmer]

Even with the massive constraints placed on the minibot design, it will still be difficult to create a final product that attaches to the pole, and has enough traction to adequately grip the pole. It's still going to be exciting to see which teams come up with novel ways to increase traction, novel methods of attachment, and creative ways to lighten the whole system.

[bassoondude]

Doesn't the blue box under section 4.13.15 technically allow an FTC team who is not registered for the competition to win the coopertition award?

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by bassoondude

Doesn't the blue box under section 4.13.15 technically allow an FTC team who is not registered for the competition to win the coopertition award?

Check in section 5.3.5.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

5.3.5 Coopertition Score (CS)
Any borrowed MINIBOT which scores points by legally triggering the TARGET during the MATCH receives one (1) Coopertition point for the FRC TEAM registered for the event that is affiliated with the MINIBOT.
The total number of Coopertition points earned by a TEAM throughout the qualification matches will be their Coopertition score.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

5.3.5 Coopertition Score (CS)
Any borrowed MINIBOT which scores points by legally triggering the TARGET during the MATCH receives one (1) Coopertition point for the FRC TEAM registered for the event that is affiliated with the MINIBOT.
The total number of Coopertition points earned by a TEAM throughout the qualification matches will be their Coopertition score.

100% correct. So now let's think at the edge of the box.

My presumption is that if I were on an FTC team that had 4-8 Nobel Prize winning mini-bots that were as fast as Dave eating a Krispy Kreme and were also equipped with a universal Hostbot-interface for deployment and activiation; I would be able to walk into any FRC competition; do a demo on the practice field; and almost immediately become affilated with a new-best-friend FRC team.

I'll even bet that the FRC team would let me take home any Coopertition trophy that we earned together.

So long as "affiliation" doesn't have any special meaning beyond cooperating during the tournament's 3 days, then going stag sounds reasonable to me.

Blake

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Just to keep everyone honest, at this point the universal interface is part of the HOSTBOT and so must be included in the 120 lb. weight.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Just to keep everyone honest, at this point the universal interface is part of the HOSTBOT and so must be included in the 120 lb. weight.

If you use more than one "universal" interface, both of them added together must be included in your 120 pounds. So you can't sometimes use an interface from FTC Team 1 and another time from FTC Team 2, unless you've got the weight allowance in your HOSTBOT that would cover both of them.

Originally Posted by <R11> Blue Box

Example: A team has decided to design their ROBOT such that, before any given MATCH, they may change the configuration of the ROBOT based on perceived strengths or weaknesses of an opponent. The team accomplished this by constructing a basic drive train platform plus two versions of a GAME PIECE manipulator, each manipulator being a quick attach/detach device such that either one or the other (but not both) may be part of the ROBOT at the beginning of a MATCH. Their ROBOT platform weighs 107 lb, version A of the manipulator weighs 6 lb, and version B weighs 8 lb. Although only one version will be on the ROBOT during a MATCH, both manipulators (and all components of the manipulators that would be used during the MATCH) must be on the scale along with the ROBOT platform during weigh in. This would result in a rejection of the ROBOT because its total weight comes to 121 lb.

Replace the words "GAME PIECE manipulator" with "MINIBOT deployment device" and you will see that both devices must be included in your HOSTBOT weight.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by gblake

... equipped with a universal Hostbot-interface for deployment and activation; ...Blake

Here is the sense in which I (try to) use the word "interface".

"An interface is a boundary between two things, not the thing on either side of the interface. Things meet at interfaces. The things on either side of the interface might have plugs, sockets, transmitters, receivers, tabs, alignment pins, etc. Those are the parts of the "things" that are exposed at the interface and conform to the interface, but are not the interface."

Debating this interpretation isn't necessary - I know others exist; and I see that I was sloppy when I said the mythical mini-bot would be equipped with an interface instead of saying that it would conform to the magic universal interface spec.

More interestingly, the discussion seems to be saying this: Minibots loaned to random Hostbots have to be properly deployed and activated somehow; and as folks have pointed out, if the Minibot rides in a carrier that gets left behind on the Hostbot, that carrier's weight and the weight of any/all carrier types/implementations that Hostbot uses throughout the entire regional need to be properly accounted for during inspection and subsequent preparation for all matches.

Using a Minibot carrier only once and I suppose its weight isn't on the Hostbot's books for the entire tournament; use three different carriers repeatedly, and you might need to pass inspection with all three on the scales.

Remember, I'm not the official Q&A.

Blake