Question of the Week!!! (7/26/04)

[Michael R. Lee]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I've got an idea...

Duct tape.

It's cheap, widely available, and traction would be FUN again!

Actually I want to use it on the robot. They could give an award out for it where everything but the penumatics, wiring, motors, etc.... has to made out of it. C'mon, they've already got a contest for making your outfit out of it for prom. That and I am sure anyone who has worked in the pits wished they could use it to fix or tape something down.

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

That being said flat carpet with simple field objects like in 02 made for a "go get em" kind of game that led to some awesome machines. After two years of really "busy" fields, I'd love to see the game "opened up" again.

I agree that the fields have gotten crowded with massive obstacles and other elements of the playfield like balls and bins in the past two seasons. In 2000, you had room to move around (well under or over) the main giant obstacle of a ramp and ball hoppers. That type of game had some interesting designs as well. 2002 too with a big open field produced some neat designs as well. But as 2002 showed, it needs to more than just a shoving match.

[Corey Balint]

I would really like to see a King of the Hill type format again, but this time have the top be an incredibly slippy surface and say the area surrounding that would incredibly rough and tough to get up. i think that would make it a true king of the hill.

I do think that itll end up being carpeting and if there is another surface-it would be for king of the hill, and most likely slick, but not to an extreme.

[techtiger1]

Diffrent surfaces would be awesome, definitely ice would be cool. Sand would also be very challenging. I think diffrent surfaces is a great idea. I think a great one would be rubber that they make kids play grounds out of, but thats just me. Anyway love the idea.





Drew Disbury
Team#1251 Tech Tigers
2004 Florida regional rookie all-stars

[Max Lobovsky]

It would be interesting to see a combination of very different materials on the field. For example, rubber matting and the relatively polycarbonate from this year. If the game was designed properly, there could be some robots that would try to stay on one surface because they perform better on it.

[Ben Lauer]

Velcro...

Imagine the playing field with one side...the tires with the other...
The power needed...The Sound Made!!!!!!!

Positioning would conquer!

[ElfMaster]

I like the idea of a lot of different surfaces...

If I had to pick one... rocks. Lots of large rocks. That would be hard to do...

[KathieK]

I have to agree with the idea of different surfaces... I remember seeing a demo on TV for the Segway when it first came out and they showed it traversing gravel, sand, water (puddle) as well as a smooth asphalt surface.

Of course, people who help BUILD the playing fields (like my husband) will kill me for that idea!

[jpsaul7usa]

How about... um... tile or concrete? Something that every team has available to practice on... not very creative but highly practical.

If not, sand. We got plenty of that out here in Phoenix. ;p

[Franchesca]

Originally Posted by jpsaul7usa

How about... um... tile or concrete? Something that every team has available to practice on... not very creative but highly practical.

If not, sand. We got plenty of that out here in Phoenix. ;p

I have to agree ... praticality would be nice at this point ... but it would also be boring!!

So sand would be absolutely interesting ... I wonder if it makes a difference what kind of sand it is though ... because sand from different places have different textures!! But oh well, something else to think about!

I would definetly like to see what creative ideas teams would come up with in order to keep the sand from blowing up into everything!!

[Max Lobovsky]

Originally Posted by ElfMaster

I like the idea of a lot of different surfaces...

If I had to pick one... rocks. Lots of large rocks. That would be hard to do...

Many times on these forums people have suggested using some sort of very tough, not smoothe surface. I agree that it would make constructing the robot much more of a challenge, but I think it will never happen because it puts most kinds of autonomous modes out of the reach of all but the most advanced teams. Look how many teams had trouble this year on carpet with a field of exactly known dimensions...

[EddieMcD]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

Question of the Week (7/26/04):

If you could choose a playingfield surface other than carpet, what would you like it to be? Why?

Originally Posted by Jeff Waegelin

In all serious, though, I agree with Steve W. Carpet is the easiest material to use, and I forsee FIRST sticking with it, at least for the main flooring of the field. Other materials may be used, sortof like the HDPE and wire mesh in previous seasons, but the main flooring will likely stay carpet. It's just the easiest to deal with.

That's prettymuch taking the thoughts out of my head.

Although to actually answer the question: dried corn, just because it's classic.

[Jon K.]

I think maybe like a king of the hill only will a trough filled with sand or like those rounded pebbles that used to be on playgrounds would be cool. I also think something like a smoke screen would add an interesting element to it, but it would also increase the hazard level and therfore not be practical, but it would be cool.

[Lisa Perez]

Grass would be pretty sweet to see. The all-natural stuff. It's somewhat irregular, so teams would have to compensate for the abnormalities somehow. And they'd have to be more careful so as to not ruin the playing field.

[Kyle Love]

I think we need to go back to the beginning and have a field of corn. I know that sounds wierd but it might be kind of cool. It would most likely require a drivebase without the regular tires. In the middle, or somewhere, there should be some other type of substance. (Could be ice, grass, tile or keep it with the carpet.) My other idea for a new field surface is the type of tile schools usually use.(Big waxed tiles) That would make the field slipery like ice but hard like regular tiles. I think that would be fun to see robots on slipery surfaces!
-Kyle

[dubious elise]

Sand... the texture changes almost constantly as it is driven over aaaaand you have to deal with the ever-present danger of small particles getting into electrical equipment.

muahahahaaaa