My hints and guess on the Game in 2004!

[pauluffel]

I like your reasons for guessing that drums will be important, but I think it would be much more interesting to use musical drums than simply drums as containers. Using audio to help with autonomous would be fiarly economical and would add a huge new aspect to the game, though making the audible data useful without having too much interference would be rather difficult (imagine the huge numbers of fans screaming in the final match of Championships...)
Possibly using ultrasonic sensors to measure distance or having some sort of "drums" on the field that would produce ultrasonic or subsonic beats that you could only find and hunt down with sensors on your robot? Sounds fun and challenging to me.

Also about the game but not related to drums, I'm hoping they make the field more dynamic, with a large random element, like squirrels or small dogs or some other sort of animal, though PETA (the humane treatment of animals nuts, not the People for Eating Tasty Animals) would mug Dean if live animals were part of the game.

[Jeff_Rice]

I think pauluffel has hit the nail (or drum) right on the head here.

They could be stationary, and thus allow any robot to determine its position with decent accuracy.

The only problem is that with the crowd and all, the noise could confuse the robots.

[Sachiel7]

Thanks for the info on the Blast!
I guess I just missed it.
I think you're definitely on to something. I'm not sure in what sense, but drums do make sense. They haven't been used before (or at least, while i've been around). I kinda like the idea of drums. BUT...what other scoring object may be used???
Like you said, something may be stored in the drums. This is probably likely if they're stationary. Or, they may be "scoring areas", like getting objects in them counts for points. I'm not sure, but I think we've definitely got something going here.

[Francis-134]

Reaching and grabbing in a barrel will make you use the banner sensors to “see” the items inside with (retro reflective?) tape on them

It seems rather unlikely that FIRST would make people look in the drums for things. Although it certainly would be a challenge to build and program a robot like that, it may get a little boring in the stands watching a robot find things in barrels.

But as always, it will be difficult to tell what those guys/gals at FIRST will have in store for us this year.

[Rich Wong]

I over heard a really good idea today in one of out robotics workshop:

Student1: I know how to get big sponsor money for the FIRST Championship in GA- design a game with 2 liter Coke bottles!

Coca-cola is headquartered in Atlanta and they would love to see all those Coca-Cola bottles flying around and become the "official drink of FIRST."

Student2: yet and think of all that free cola we can drink in the pits!


HINT, HINT, FIRST and Coca-Cola.

[danielkitchener]

Originally Posted by Rich Wong

I over heard a really good idea today in one of out robotics workshop:

Student1: I know how to get big sponsor money for the FIRST Championship in GA- design a game with 2 liter Coke bottles!

Coca-cola is headquartered in Atlanta and they would love to see all those Coca-Cola bottles flying around and become the "official drink of FIRST."

Student2: yet and think of all that free cola we can drink in the pits!


HINT, HINT, FIRST and Coca-Cola.

I think you're onto something
On the site, in the link that Dave gave us, there are inflatable soda cans...perhaps.
Oh, and also. I'm sure I've mentioned this to several of you, but what about conveyer belts??? They add a degree of difficulty to the field if they go opposite the direction you want to go, and havent been used before. I.e.
_______________________________
| END ZONE |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | B | | B | |
| | E | | E | |
| | L | | L | |
| | T | | T | |
| | | | | |
|____| |________| |_________| and thats half the field. Belt moves towards the top of this post.

[gsensel]

Originally Posted by danielkitchener

I think you're onto something
On the site, in the link that Dave gave us, there are inflatable soda cans...perhaps.
Oh, and also. I'm sure I've mentioned this to several of you, but what about conveyer belts??? They add a degree of difficulty to the field if they go opposite the direction you want to go, and havent been used before.

Also perhaps the conveyor belts are only on for part of the match.

[maxgebhardt]

just glancing at the suppliers for this year, and something caught my eye, NYPRO is a sponser, they make custom molded plastic junk. maybe first designed its own object this year. also BEI which makes gyroscopes. they're a gold supplier this year, so maybe we'll get better gyros. this would make some sense if we were reaching into barrels where the operators cant see.
what I'm confused about is EBM sponsering on the platnum level, they make fans. why are they sponsoring...

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by maxgebhardt

just glancing at the suppliers for this year, and something caught my eye, NYPRO is a sponser, they make custom molded plastic junk. maybe first designed its own object this year.

such as custom made plastic bearing blocks, and drill motor mounts, like last year?

[maxgebhardt]

maybe, but that would hardly seem enough to become a platinum supplier. they might be making custom plastic oil bins, maybe shorter than normal.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by maxgebhardt

maybe, but that would hardly seem enough to become a platinum supplier. they might be making custom plastic oil bins, maybe shorter than normal.

Making molds and casting about a dozen parts for each of more than 900 teams isn't that cheap, and since I'm sure it's all donated, I'd bet that qualifies.

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by maxgebhardt

what I'm confused about is EBM sponsering on the platnum level, they make fans. why are they sponsoring...

HMMmmm... Sliding friction coefficient of dry ice and fans... Where have I seen this odd combination before... Yeah, I remember! It was four or five months ago when I was in this really long, boring MER meeting when I noticed that Dave Lavery (ever the clown) had built a hovercraft using a toy fan, two AA batteries, paper clips, and a Krispy Kreme donut. It looked like Dave was trying to deliver it to Pete Theisinger ("the goal"), across the conference table (I remember thinking that if I was Pete, I wouldn't want to eat that donut after having all of those skanky paper clips inserted into it). Well, it looked to me like there wasn't enough lift 'cause the Krispy Kreme only made it half way across the table before the Krispy Kremes maple-flavored goo stuck it to the conference table. I then distinctly remember Dave mumbling something about maple-flavored goo not sticking to dry ice. Well, I didn't think too much of it at the time (Dave is always doing stuff like this in meetings), but now I'm not too sure that Dave was just experimenting with the latest fad in mobility platforms for Mars exploration...

-Kevin

[Chris Fultz]

We will have to climb stairs and then balance on a 55 gallon drum that is on its' side. Bonus points if you are on top of drum when time runs out.
And there are only 2 drums in a 3 robot competition game.

Roll your drum to your scoring are for an additional bonus point.

[D@ve]

I've been wanting to climb stairs for 4 years now and i'm still waiting ...Maybe this will be the year we all CLIMB to new hights!!!!!

[dez250]

Originally Posted by Kevin Watson

HMMmmm... Sliding friction coefficient of dry ice and fans... Where have I seen this odd combination before... Yeah, I remember! It was four or five months ago when I was in this really long, boring MER meeting when I noticed that Dave Lavery (ever the clown) had built a hovercraft using a toy fan, two AA batteries, paper clips, and a Krispy Kreme donut. It looked like Dave was trying to deliver it to Pete Theisinger ("the goal"), across the conference table (I remember thinking that if I was Pete, I wouldn't want to eat that donut after having all of those skanky paper clips inserted into it). Well, it looked to me like there wasn't enough lift 'cause the Krispy Kreme only made it half way across the table before the Krispy Kremes maple-flavored goo stuck it to the conference table. I then distinctly remember Dave mumbling something about maple-flavored goo not sticking to dry ice. Well, I didn't think too much of it at the time (Dave is always doing stuff like this in meetings), but now I'm not too sure that Dave was just experimenting with the latest fad in mobility platforms for Mars exploration...

-Kevin

Kevin, dont forget that the true reason Dave [Lavery] likes Krispy Kreme's is cause in space his devices wouldn't feel the drag from them while delivering to the I.S.S. or Mars!
~Mike