FRC in 2070

[Cog]

What kind of future developments (not necessarily technical) could change the way FRC is played?

How do you see FIRST changing in the far off future?

When FIRST is as widely recognized as lacrosse and football, what might a build+competition season look like?

What might a kit of parts look like 50 years from now?

And most importantly... would there be a chief delphi?

I've been thinking about this for a while, (and pondering writing a story/novella about a robotics team/season in the 2070s) you guys have probably got a lot of cool ideas as well, and I want to hear them.

[GavinL]

Water game 2070

[Noudvanbrunscho]

i think 2070 is too early for a watergame..

[pilleya]

Larger emphasis on Autonomous( probably all on auto), different materials robots will probably be built from environmentally friendly biopolymers( or some crazy new material) rather than hydrocarbon based plastics, and limited use of metals( probably no metals allowed for structural stuff).

If passenger aircraft are electric, then will be cheaper to travel but if is still conventional fuels, then will probably be unaffordable to travel internationally to events.

[Chris is me]

If FRC still exists in a form anything like it is today by then, I imagine it could potentially be a feeder league into a professional level competition, much as high school sports feed into professional sports. As this happens FRC level competition can get simpler and more accessible, because there will already be cultural inspiration from the "big kids" at the professional level, so FRC will more resemble what FTC is today.

That's just one of many directions it could go. 50 years is a long time.

[Taylor]

By 2070 there will be one of two realities:
1. Permanent fields, at least one in every city across North America and beyond
2. No more FRC

[NShep98]

The 2079 game will be played with alarm bells.

[Vyrotek]

If all goes well, I can't even start to imagine what this will look like. In 50 years the combination of AI and VR will replace much of the norms we have today. You won't travel to a competition and you won't be building a "physical" bot.

STEM as we know it will be very different. We will be encouraging students to enter fields that don't exist today.

That is... assuming society even needs jobs anymore thanks to our new robot overlords.

[BigJ]

The Chief Delphi VR Discussion Habitat will still have a yearly debate on whether vectorized antigrav drive is comparable to 6-repulsor thrust drive.

[maxnz]

Probably a lot more 3D printing (if something else hasn't come along yet).

Maybe the robots will be controlled by driver's thoughts, rather than via controllers.

[Thayer McCollum]

The "Quotes" that were said during build season thread will become the first CD thread to exceed 2000 pages. Or CD won't exist.

[Oblarg]

2070 is sufficiently far in the future that just about any specific prediction is nonsense.

[ngreen]

Let's just assume all the 20+ year projects work, so everyone is pretty excited in 2070 because, on the 100th anniversary of the first moonwalk, our advanced propulsion nanocraft has reached Alpha Centauri. We also have working fusion power system and space elevator after successes in materials engineering, and we have brought a mineral-rich meteor into orbit to mine. Large mining robots have constructed multiple mining substations across the meteor but haven't placed the vital gears or provided the fuel to operate these systems, and so using remote communication, meteor obstacle avoidance AI, advanced human vision using contact-like lens, and human-sensor interfaces, and other advances, teams will try to deliver these items to these substations. You can fill in the rest.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by BigJ

The Chief Delphi VR Discussion Habitat will still have a yearly debate on whether vectorized antigrav drive is comparable to 6-repulsor thrust drive.

Vectorized anti-grav drive will never have the pushing power or ability to stand up to heavy defense that a 6-repulsor drive can dish out. 6-repulsor is so much easier to do well with.

[wilsonmw04]

• 1. There will be the annual post about how FIRST is too expensive and does not listen to the "right" people enough.
• 2. There will still be the annual post about how FIRST doesn't value "winning" and "the robot" enough.