paper: Killer Bees 2011 Robotics Season Journal

[BJC]

Originally Posted by blakeelias

Jim, I love how you organize the design process early in the season! Can you describe the role play activity you did on Day 2? It seems like you got a lot out of it, but what exactly did it look like? Were you using the field at all at that point?

The role playing was very minimalist. We set up two collapsible tables up approximately 54 feet away from each other in a small side street inside Chrysler. These simulated the racks with tape on the table simulating the pegs. Tubes were simulated with mini bagels. Different flavors were the different shapes. The playing fields general dimensions were taped off along with the lanes and such. For gameplay we used students as robots. Before they began they were told what kind of robot they were, what they were able to do, and what their stratigy was for that match. They were each also given yardsticks with which to carry the mini-bagels on. For the minibots students had to stand in a certain area and depending on how good their minibot was would raise their hands to simulate a minibot triggering the tower. Based on our experience we were able to much better determine what was important and how we wanted to play the game.

I highly suggest the exercise to all teams who don't already do something of the sort.