**FIRST EMAIL**/Advance Materials List and Autodesk Virtual Kit of Parts Information

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Collin Fultz

one thing i noticed that isn't there...mailboxes

Based on my experience shopping for mailboxes--

While you can buy a limited selection of standard mailboxes at Home Depot, they are expensive. I couldn't find one that fit my spec's, and ordered one off the Internet. According to U.S. Postal Service regulations, you can also build your own, and the spec's are very generalized (don't waste your time trying to search the USPS site for the spec's unless you actually want a new mailbox). Plus, FIRST would be giving away too much by listing them with the materials.

Here are my guesses about the mailboxes:

1. We will build our own from the listed materials (lumber & deck screws).
2. They're included within one of the numerous KOP boxes.
3. They ARE one of the KOP boxes.
4. There will be no mailboxes.

[jrocket567]

With a pile of lumber that could stretch to the moon, could we be playing pick-up- 2x4's???

[Madison]

Both items 6 and 9 on the Bill of Materials are unique and, possibly, the most telling.

Item 6 is a single piece of 1"x5" lumber. One -- perhaps it's used as a stringer along the peak of some ramp.

Item 9 calls for 2 pieces of 2"x4"x10' -- all the other 2"x4"s are spec'd at 8', so there's some single component of the field that is 8'+ large -- in what dimension is anyone's guess.

In any case, because of those quantities, I expect the field will have symmetry in two planes only; no pentagons, octagons or other weird stuff.

Of course, it really is just a list of materials and they could be used to build anything at all.

[lrdblaster03]

maybe the 10' is jsut for a piece that has to be cut to 5', or 4 pieces of that length

[MadEyeMechie]

There has to be a reason why the sheets are polycarb and clear. As has been mentioned, they are too thin to be used w/o significant reinforcement. They could be used to lower the coefficent of friction, but I dont think so since it isnt really that slippery. They can bend, but as has been pointed out, other cheaper things can be used for this. But you can see through them. That has to be a key point!

My first thought was a large wall (perhaps 8-10' tall) that you have to reach over, and while looking thru it, pick up something with a "shovel" bucket.

Then another idea hit (and I notice that some others here have had this thought too) that there may be a raised center area / ramp that bots have to drive under as well as up, makes a lot of sense. You would have to be ble to see the bot underneath it to reasonably drive it.

But suppose you have to get up to the top of the raised area / ramp where maybe only 5 bots fit, and in the top there is a sort of pit. It could be made of a piece of something rolled into a large tube (ie 2' diameter) and filled with "stuff/pasta" that you have to dig a game piece out of? This pit would reach "down" to the ground (they cant really make a pit in the arena floor, right?)

So you have to dig (ie shovel) a game piece out of the "pasta" and lift it up to the top of the ramp/raised platform or perhaps then lift it even higher onto a support or post or such.

Anyway, just some thoughts and frankly Im not sure I can see how this totally meets the clue. But maybe it gives others even more ideas (not like we really seem to be lacking actually).

-MEM

PS the local Longmont Home Depot claimed on the phone to no longer carry treadplate. Also, the price for a 1 x 2' piece shown elsewhere is pretty much prohibitive! $28 for 2 sq feet, and we need 32 sq ft?

[Madison]

Originally Posted by lrdblaster03

maybe the 10' is jsut for a piece that has to be cut to 5', or 4 pieces of that length

You can't get two 5' long pieces of wood from one 10' long piece.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

I took a little trip to home depot to investigate the tread plate mystery...






The sheets come in 1' x 2' sections, and are available in the Windows/Doors Section of the store. There were only 5 sheets left at our store, so look out!

[lrdblaster03]

okay so it wont exactly be 5' but close enough to it

[Gene F]

I think the 3/4 plywood will be to make spars for a ramp that has no flat surfaces at all. The 2X4s span between spars and are close enough that the 1/4 laun gives plenty of strength to support robots. The 10 ft 2x4s are used to make goals that are attached to the sides of the ramp. The goals are made from the poly carb rolled into a tube 8 feet long with holes that will accept pool noodles. The diamond plate forms a barrier on the sides of the ramp to keep robots from falling off. The pool noodles are color coded for each alliance.

[Manoel]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

I don't think we will be driving on the lexan. The list specifically says:

Anything you have to drive on or react with in a specific way couldn't have this note since the specific friction would be critical for the robot design. So, I still believe it is going to just be used as side protection for falling robots.

Well, in 2004 the low cost version of the field drawing (yes, I just checked it) suggested the use of plywood instead of polycarbonate, and the specific friction was relatively important to robot designs.
Of course, if you couldn't get past the HDPE the polycarbonate didn't really matter.

[Jonathan Norris]

I am definitely thinking that the lexan will be used for some sort of see-through wall. Luckily for us one of our sponsors is GM Plastics and has been suppling us with lexan for our robot (which we mainly use for armor . I imagine a 10' foot high wall raised on a ramp where robots will have to put something over. There is very little which we can figure out from this list, because it is just that a list of materials (however that is a awfully large amount of wood for 1/2 of the field).

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Gene F

I think the 3/4 plywood will be to make spars for a ramp that has no flat surfaces at all. The 2X4s span between spars and are close enough that the 1/4 laun gives plenty of strength to support robots. The 10 ft 2x4s are used to make goals that are attached to the sides of the ramp. The goals are made from the poly carb rolled into a tube 8 feet long with holes that will accept pool noodles. The diamond plate forms a barrier on the sides of the ramp to keep robots from falling off. The pool noodles are color coded for each alliance.

This is the most interesting guess I've read yet. Do you have some inside knowledge?

I have none, but will add one element to your guess just to make the game concept even more outrageous: Spacing of the pool noodles is small enough that two or more of them can support another object (a football?) that must be lifted over the top rim of the clear goal-tube. Highest football scores a bonus.

[Andrew Blair]

The polycarb will likely not be used to be a see through barrier forthings, because if it's in contact with robots, it'll get scuffed and you won't be able to see through it, so it'll have to be replaced quite often, which gets expensive. And if it's not in contact with robots, there's no point in having it, right? Maybe as a goal shield type thing, so you can only enter the goal from one side, but that is it. No polycarb wall across the front of the field.

[Rickertsen2]

Polycarb - Something non-structural. I don't think it will be used to laminate something else because they allow substitutions. The most likely substitute would be plexi, which shatters easily. I am thinking its transparency is key. As mentioned before, perhaps there is an area that you can see but your robot cannot reach. Perhaps the camera is supposed to see though it, but i doubt it. Glare would be an issue.

Diamond plate - The texture of this item is probably fairly critical. Its fairly thick, and there is ALOT(4'x8') of it. Maybie it laminates the plywood, although i doubt it or it would be optional. I also do not think it is meant to be bent into anything because not all teams have a sheet metal bender. I think the robot will be driving on this stuff. Perhaps it is made into a box supported by the smaller wood. Perhaps it is integrated into something with the polycarb.

2x4s - Obviously part of some sort of raised structure. Ramp? Platform? Game piece dispensers?

1x3s and 1x5s - They are probably too skinny to be structural. I think they are a very key piece. I'm thinking maybie they form a supprot structure for something else. My guess is some sort of game piece dispenser or holder or goal.
plywood - Probably the decking for the structure as well as other things. There are several thicknesses. There is the same amount of polycarb as 1/4" Maybie there will be a curved slippery hill? The platform will be very sizable.

Deck Screws - Hold everything together.

Drywall Screws - ??? Screw the floor down?

Bolts Washers and Nuts - 4" long. thats pretty long and there are 8 opf them.

[1075master]

no wheels, tubing or anything. in 04 they never put the balls on the field list since they gave them to us. so maybe there is something moveable on the field but the elements themselves are not. and if its not on the list but is in the KOP the object can't be that big. well unless it blows up or something. but u get the point.
i'm thinking ramps and walls.. lexan i'm still really confused i agree with everyone that its a see-through wall.