**FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by JoeXIII'007

PS: Curious question to the people with even closer ties to FIRST on here: do you guys or do you know of any FIRST admin that ever prints out these extremely long threads with ideas to what the year's game hint leads to and post them on some wall (or at least the 'good/funny/completely off-base' ideas) and then come back to them every once in a while just to have a good laugh??? I can only imagine... I hope you guys are enjoying yourselves after 370 something posts...

I'm sure the GDC gets a huge kick out of reading these things. How ridiculous we must sound...

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Libby K

I'm sure the GDC gets a huge kick out of reading these things. How ridiculous we must sound...

If I was on the GDC, I would have an internal bet with all my other GDC members as to how many posts were going to be made about the clue(s) on CD.

The winner or winners would have to reveal what the clue meant in front of everyone at Kickoff & see all the looks on people's faces as it finally "clicks".

I think that's a nice prize for guessing a number don't you?

I mean.. we get to guess about things like clues, and get an entire year of fun out of it. Guessing a number of posts should be worth at least 15 minutes of fame on a NASA webcast & in front of a physical audience of >500 people or so at kickoff. Don't you?

[basicxman]

could someone please summarize the previous posts, anyone who has read the entire thread?

sorry but i dont really feel like reading 400+ posts, even on CD

[JoeXIII'007]

Originally Posted by basicxman

could someone please summarize the previous posts, anyone who has read the entire thread?

sorry but i dont really feel like reading 400+ posts, even on CD

I don't blame you...

That all said, here is an interactive summary:

1. goto maps.google.com
2. type in the first two numbers of the game hint on post #1
3. press enter and notice that you have been directed to Copley Square somewhere in New England. The overhead view displays a large reflective building just southeast of the virtual green map pin and two large buildings that spell out EI just south of the mark.
4. Now goto street view and have a look at that obelisks in Copley Square, along with other great sights.
5. Next, have a look at post #383 of this thread, pretty darn conclusive material... maybe. Just below that, #387, makes a connection between the distance between Copley square and Paul Revere. More postings discover the connection between Copley and Paul Revere. In other words, there's SUBSTANTIAL evidence that there is something interesting about Copley Square and Paul Revere's residence.
6. There was also post #324 which took the thrid number of the clue, converted it to a date on excel and on that date in some year, Max Planck discovered the law of black body emission. Read up further on that post and realize there's a real connection between that and clue #1: the IR thingy.
7. Also, as a geek, I have to remind everyone of the philosophical connections between the clue and XKCD comic #240. Plus the connection between the comic and Dave's signature (the answer to the year's most important question...).

And I think that covers it for now. I didn't want to put a 400 page summary here, thus the reason why I stop here. Conclude what you wish and have fun with it.

-Joe

PS: The cake is not a lie... we will get it January 5th at the FIRST Robotics Enrichment Competition Kick-off. (Sorry, I am just so happy after playing Portal in one sitting... had to make some form of reference there.)

PS2: Feel free to add to this summary as you wish.

[Joe G.]

Hint was posted, and the first two numbers were immediatly identified as GPS coordinates to Copley Square in boston. The third number has a greater dispute of interpretations, usually either being angle from north, or height. If used as an angle, it points through two obelisks, and then directly at the globe cafe, and in the general direction of Manchester, New Hampshere. Squares, triangles, and circles are all visible.

Other interesting sites include trinity church, whose name suggests triangles, and, along with release date, suggests a connection to the National Treasure movies. Another is the John Hancock Tower, which has train tracks on the top, and a counterweight system to counteract wind.

The national treasure theory lead to a link to a song called "Truckin" by Grateful Dead, whose chorus goes:

Sometimes the light's all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it's been.

This has been interpreted to mean the camera "light shining" and infared (can't see infrared)

There has also been scattered discussion about mathematical ways to make sense out of the numbers (nothing too significant yet), dave's new signature, etc.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by hifihitk

I agree. The IR decoder and the coordinates are just to point us to the fact we will be doing some navigation.

I agree, but I think that decoding a beacon isn't necessary for navigation. The beam width won't be the factor for navigation, because either you decode the signal or you don't - it is not analog.

Originally Posted by meaubry

Copley Square in Boston, where atop the Hancock building is a beacon. Which has the capability of emitting 4 outputs - red solid, red flashing, blue solid, blue flashing.

Um, not quite. The John Hancock Tower is across the street from Copley Square, and it's the OLD Hancock building (walking distance away) with the lights. But, good insight on blue & red.

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If I was on the GDC, I would have an internal bet with all my other GDC members as to how many posts were going to be made about the clue(s) on CD.

They probably do, whoever gets closest wins dinner from the rest or something. We need to ask after kickoff...

A square in the middle of the field. The IR beacon your robot receives gives you some major advantage, but not having it doesn't mean you're not competitive. Red & Blue alliances, (my guess) 3 per side again.

Don

[Bill Tompkins]

One thing to keep in mind about PCM (pulse code modulated) IR transmitters (remotes), they will interfere with each other. If two or more PCM encoded IR signals are broadcast at the same time, they will interfere with each other. The decoder will not be able to use either signal.

I doubt FIRST would allow teams to use IR to contol the Robot becasue it would be too easy to jam each other. IR is invisible and would be impossible to prevent.

Whatever FIRST plans to do with them you can bet the IR beams will be separated. Probably beaming out from the center of the playfield in quadrature.

Another possiblilty, the signals (1 of 4) will be sent out at different times. Channel 1 for the first 15 second, channel 2 for the next, ... Maybe the Robots will have to follow and respond to these IR becons.

B

[pafwl]

We looked up Singleton....

In software engineering, the singleton pattern is a design pattern that is used to restrict instantiation of a class to one object. This is useful when exactly one object is needed to coordinate actions across the system. Sometimes it is generalized to systems that operate more efficiently when only one or a few objects exist. It is also considered an anti-pattern since it is often used as a euphemism for global variable.

Will one robot be the guide for the others? Just because they gave us the receiver does not mean we will not get the transmitter in the kit....

[whlspacedude]

The last friday of every month Copley Square is the gathering point for Critical Mass. Critical Mass is a lot of fun.

Funny that was the name of our first robot (critical mass)

I figure since this got entirely missed by most of the folks here, who haven't read the whole thread, I'll post it again. I did a little graphing, and found that from the Google Coordinates (knowing the GDC, they would write this clue around what we all have, which is Google Maps/Earth) are directly on the statue of Copley. At the heading of the third number given, from the statue of copley, you are looking in a clear path through two obelisks, at the Globe Cafe. In this setup, we have the three shapes of FIRST: Triangles, Circles, and Squares.

My earlier post has an attached drawing with the satellite photo and the lines drawn to show the heading.

[ervtech]

red soxs and infared...... i dont know, when i think of Boston i think of the redsox. and that has red in it. I dont know, just putting it out there.

[ervtech]

wait.... what if the first two numbers are the coordinates to copley square right. Then what if the third number is the distance from the center of the square that the object we are looking for is?? maybe

[ervtech]

or it could be something that is just flying under everybodys radar because i dont think that the people from FIRST and NASA would just hand us the game on a silver platter.

[dani190]

Originally Posted by ervtech

or it could be something that is just flying under everybodys radar because i dont think that the people from FIRST and NASA would just hand us the game on a silver platter.

Exactly do you really think NASA. Let me say that again NASA, would make it that easy? Think about it its NASA some of the worlds brightest people probably work there. Even if they don't i think that they are way more qualified than us. Meaning they can make this thing very very complicated. They have probably spent months doing this hint.

Also read up people have mentioned the fact that what people think the game is and what it ends up being isn't even part of the truth.

Too bad someone doesn't know someone on the inside

Merry Christmas, Dani

[LSC Darkside451]

Please excuse me because I’m quite new to this forum stuff, but I think everyone here on Chief Delphi is taking this whole hint thing too literally. Two years ago for the “Aim High” game we were given the hint about seeing Mt. Everest’s “Green Heights”, or something to that effect. In the end we realized the hint meant seeing the green light up in the air for targeting the goal. The hint certainly didn’t me to go to Mt. Everest to see what you could see.

I’m not concentrating so much on where the GPS coordinates are pointing, but rather that they are pointing to a specific point on a map. Combine this with the IR board now. It might just mean that these IR boards are going to be pointing to a very specific point on the playing field.

I could be going off on a tangent at this point, but it also seems that the coordinates are pointing at a light post in the square. I could personally read this two ways. Either (A) it means that the IR boards are going to be used in place of the CMU Cams to find this specific point like the green lights. Or (B) it will be used in tandem with the CMU Cams to help track targets on the field like the green lights.

Don’t take my word for it though. I could never be 100% sure about any of my solutions to a game hint. The only thing I know for sure though is that the game hints never give you enough of the picture to figure out the entire game. They only ever seem to give you one very important piece of the puzzle to solve and that’s it.

But that doesn’t stop me from trying…