FAQ for Q&A

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

Another for the Q&A:
{RE}
<R92> The following items are the only permitted materials for use on the MINIBOTS:
...
C. exactly one 12V rechargeable NiMH battery pack identical to those supplied in the FTC kit of parts (PN W739057)
...
E. No more than one NXT controller with the Bluetooth functionality disabled,

QUESTION: How are we supposed to power the NXT controller without using its self-contained batery(ies)?

well, leaving out the batteries ensures the Bluetooth is disabled.

Acctually, <R34> specifically allows for batteries integral to COTS computing devices, with the example of laptop batteries given.

<R35> reenforces this rule by making an exception for "a battery contained in a COTS computing device"

I think it would be the same for the NXT, since it is a COTS computing device.

[ThirteenOfTwo]

After the initial 3-point penalty for breaking the plane of an opponent's zone, is there any penalty for remaining in the zone? Could a team take the three-point penalty and then remain in the zone indefinitely to run interference on scoring robots?

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by ThirteenOfTwo

After the initial 3-point penalty for breaking the plane of an opponent's zone, is there any penalty for remaining in the zone? Could a team take the three-point penalty and then remain in the zone indefinitely to run interference on scoring robots?

Reminds me of the well-heeled parking scofflaw who remarked that the $15 parking fine was cheaper than the garage was charging. If your robot cannot do anything else, you mean it might not be completely worthless?

[ThirteenOfTwo]

Originally Posted by Bill_B

Reminds me of the well-heeled parking scofflaw who remarked that the $15 parking fine was cheaper than the garage was charging. If your robot cannot do anything else, you mean it might not be completely worthless?

Pretty much. That's why I was asking about getting pushed into the zone earlier; a team could deliberately get themselves pushed in for no penalty and then stay in the zone, raise a screen, and block off half the pegs. Violates the intent of the law, but not the letter.

[mcf747]

Can we add the dimensioning referenced here to the list?

-Matthew

[mcf747]

Proposed question:

Is it legal to create a pressure vessle out of the alloted "Aluminum sheet, 90* angle, u-channel, tube, bar" listed in <R92> H to act as a "rocket" propelling the minibot up?

Anyone remember the good old days playing with bottle rockets out of old soda bottles?

-Matthew

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by mcf747

Proposed question:

Is it legal to create a pressure vessle out of the alloted "Aluminum sheet, 90* angle, u-channel, tube, bar" listed in <R92> H to act as a "rocket" propelling the minibot up?

Anyone remember the good old days playing with bottle rockets out of old soda bottles?

-Matthew

Would this minibot attached to the pole, or are you planning on 'launching' it straight from your hostbot?

[GaryVoshol]

I don't know what question number we're at, but add:

--- how big is the playing configuration sizing cylinder - 60" or 84" ?
--- can a tube intentionally be placed over the minibot tower?
--- does making a logo also double the score of any ubertubes under that logo?

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by EricH

Just getting this going so that we know what's commonly asked and likely to go to the Q&A if it isn't answered in an update. I thought of putting it in Rules/Strategy, but decided more visibility is better.

1) Launching minibots--is it legal under a) free flight or b) tethered to the pole?

2) Minibots at the top of the pole: Do they have to stay there until after the match, or can they slide down during the match to make retrieval easier?

3) Are you allowed to move your own tubes, other than ubertubes, around after they are in scoring position?

These are basically the three questions my team had that we were waiting to post to the Q&A - since I know they're common questions that are going to be posted, I'll pass that on.

[BX MARK]

What do the other two human players do? Four of them feed the game pieces on to the field...What do the other ones do?

[Darbus]

Originally Posted by BX MARK

What do the other two human players do? Four of them feed the game pieces on to the field...What do the other ones do?

They're 'analysts.' From section 1.6 of the game manual: "ANALYST – a HUMAN PLAYER that assists the COACHES with strategy. There is one ANALYST per ALLIANCE."

My take on the minibots question is that a robot can just deploy one. It refers to minibots in the game manual as 'the minibot,' as in, "The ROBOT includes both the HOSTBOT and the MINIBOT (ROBOT = HOSTBOT + MINIBOT)." (From the definition of Robot in section 1.6) That's not a definitive answer by any means, just an interpretation of the text.

[ZipTie3182]

I know this was probably in the manual, but how many tubes do the human players start with to hand to the robots through the slots? This just affects the importance of picking tubes up off the ground.

-Anna

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by ZipTie3182

I know this was probably in the manual, but how many tubes do the human players start with to hand to the robots through the slots? This just affects the importance of picking tubes up off the ground.

-Anna

You get enough logo pieces to fill both scoring grids with logos

6 triangles
6 squares
6 circles

Each feeding station gets 3 sets of logos.

3.1.2 <G10> Each FEEDER STATION must contain 3 sets of LOGO PIECES.

I assess this as, its rather difficult to prevent an opposing alliance from completing at least one logo because that's taking 6 pieces and putting it possibly into your lane or in your scoring zone.

No game pieces except the uber tubes are on the field before the human players place the logo pieces in the arena in tele-op.