2010 Game Hint #2

[MarcD79]

As one who has built many fields both at Suffield Shakedown & Hartford Regional., What you are looking at for hint #2 is a normal field configuration in a cad program mode. I do agree the gate is not at the end.

[Monty Python]

It does appear as if the gate is in the middle of the field and while I can definitely see FIRST doing something unpredictable and changing up the alliance structure, my gut feeling is that they won't (not basing this off of anything, it just seems unlikely to me). So to me, the question becomes why bother moving the gate? My guess would be because human players have to stand in that area. If human players are standing on one side of the field, they can't be symmetrical across the field and there could be some competitive advantage for either side (obviously FIRST wouldn't want an inherently unfair game). This leads me to believe that human players will have limited importance this year and, for instance, will play a role more akin to their role in Stack Attack as opposed to their incredibly important role in Lunacy.

[mjgard]

What could the yellow plat forms be for. It appears they are slightly elevated and not mounted on the standard round tube. Instead on an angled square tube.

[rbrown1]

Looking at the shadow is the field going to be under low light?

[Ziaholic]

Interesting ... but how did we get from Post #8 to Post #9?

I don't see any link to Clue #2 from the FRC Landing page ... hmmm ...


As for the clue itself ... I'm fixated on the yellow pads ... will there be people standing on them? probably not ... too close to the rails ... perhaps they'll have game-pieces on them ...

[Cyberphil]

Originally Posted by Ziaholic

As for the clue itself ... I'm fixated on the yellow pads ... will there be people standing on them? probably not ... too close to the rails ... perhaps they'll have game-pieces on them ...

These Yellow pads were on most fields this past year, but most of them werent yellow. They were curved metal pieces of sheet metal or plastic with velcro on the bottom. They were there last year too:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33956

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33599


As you can see, these were here before, we just never took much notice of them. They aren't curved in the cad picture, but that is what they are representing.


I do like the idea of a 2v2v2 game, that sounds like a lot of fun. I think we should just wait till the kickoff, but speculations are fun.

[Rob Colatutto]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Interesting. It looks like a standard FRC field gate, but it is not obviously near the end of the field. Is this a third gate in the middle of the side?

It would seem to suggest that.

I would certainly hope the gates needed to be moved towards the center of the field due to a very large game structure having obstructed the previous placements.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Rob Colatutto

It would seem to suggest that.

I would certainly hope the gates needed to be moved towards the center of the field due to a very large game structure having obstructed the previous placements.

This hint has some usefulness to it, so I will chime in.

I agree with Rob. My first thought was that robots will have to enter and exit from the middle of the field because the usual gate locations are now blocked by something such as goals or automatic game piece dispenser-type thingies, preferably surrounded by diabolical ramp- or step-like structures.

[rsisk]

If the gate is in the center of the field, does that mean we go from four gates to two? How is that going to affect traffic flow? Especially when the scoring table and a lot of the electronics run to the middle of the field?

So maybe they are not in the center, but just offset more from the driver stations, maybe at the next side rail segment (I think there are 7 per side)

[Nick Lawrence]

Considering that this is a CAD model, there is the possibility that this is "incomplete," and they just took parts of the field out.

-Nick

[TD912]

Originally Posted by rsisk

If the gate is in the center of the field, does that mean we go from four gates to two? How is that going to affect traffic flow? Especially when the scoring table and a lot of the electronics run to the middle of the field?

So maybe they are not in the center, but just offset more from the driver stations, maybe at the next side rail segment (I think there are 7 per side)

Maybe the field is a different shape? Triangle? Hexagon? With starting positions or maybe some kind of goal in each corner? You never know...

And maybe it's just the perspective, but the carpet/regolith/floor(maybe rubberized or *high* friction floors, or maybe even a padded floor??) ends right behind the view of the pipe guardrail. Just a random observation.

[mprikril]

I would not be so quick to assume there is one large gate in the middle. FIRST wants to get more matches for each team during a Regional event. One way is to reduce the amount of time between matches for removing robots and placing new ones.

If there are only two gates at the middle of the long edges of a rectangular field, how can this be quicker than the previous field with four gates? Reducing the number of robots playing in a match also reduces the number of matches per team, so any entrances and exits to the field must allow a similar or faster flow of teams on and off the field.

[Madison]

This is a model of the existing fields, not the delta field.

[Nate Smith]

The last few posts have basically covered my thoughts on the new hint, but here's my take on them:

• Gate appears to be offset more than in years past toward the center of the field. If my memory is correct, this same picture in previous years would have shown the driver station wall.
• Nothing on the field similar to the regolith from last year. The "floor" in this picture looks like the standard carpet texture used in the game animations.
• My guess on the position change for the gate is due to some sort of structure at the ends of the field.
• The center of the field appears to be somewhat open, as there are no "hints" of any structures in the immediate area surrounding the gate.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Nate Smith

My guess on the position change for the gate is due to some sort of structure at the ends of the field.

We were thinking the same thing here... but then realized that this doesn't have to be at the centre of the field... it could be on the ends of the field and the driver stations could be on the side of the field where the field control set up has been in past years.


After all, kickoff is going to look different this year.... (wasn't that one of the posts on Bill's blog?)

Or the driver stations could be somewhat further away. With cameras and IP networking, technically the driver station could be on the moon. Well... maybe low earth orbit... the moon would have a bit of time lag. Darn speed of light!


Jason