When FIRST announced that they would let us replay last year’s game they said they would change the game up a bit. What do you think will change first?
Maybe a bit of a debbie downer here, but…
I’m expecting nearly no change. Ensuring teams that can’t meet to redesign parts on their robot aren’t put at a disadvantage means not changing the balance of how actions correspond to RP and points.
In this highly volatile environment, FIRST is gonna be coerced to change lots of things. Even though the game’s not perfect, it does function reasonably well. Changing the game rules is one of the few variables HQ can control this year. Based on that, if I were in their shoes, I’d say “keep game identical” to just minimize the risks of the evolving situation.
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I’m expecting no events…
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Here is the blog post about the upcoming season:
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If you want Robotics in the spring, wear a mask.
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Yup, that’s the best current information.
I’m slightly extrapolating from OP’s initial point. I also recall communications from earlier which seemed to imply that there would be substantial rework, which has since been paired down… and will be presumably paired down further… especially as the peak still doesn’t seem to have been hit at least in the US.
Hard to figure out where the trendline crosses zero when all your data so far shows trends going off to infinity.
We’re continuing to meet and plan work for other reasons. But, @EricLeifermann’s scenario is the one I’m mentally prepared for.
100%.
Now if i could just convince the crazy amount of people I see at the grocery store or gas station not wearing a mask to do the same…
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I have a hot take proposal to throw out: What if we got rid of the game and made a completely new one?
Hear me out. If most likely all events will be cancelled, you drop the impact of the program significantly. Creating the robot itself has a huge impact on students, but the point of the same game was so some teams didn’t have to create a new robot.
So, instead, create a new game. One that can be played on a 12x12 field. and all game elements can easily have standard “drop ins”. Standard sized milk crate, standard sized recycling bin, power cells. Something that a lot of people have access to. Finally, make the kit bot chassis this year extra small, to accommodate the small size field (packaging will be a nightmare, figure it out). An FTC-esque robot with FRC style electronics.
This way, the competition field could easily for to virtual events, just like FTC and FLL. A 12x12 space is much easier to find than a half field. Virtual events could be a great way to keep students dreams alive.
This isn’t fair to everyone. There are people that don’t have money to finance a new robot, or even a 12x12 space. However, it accommodate much more than keeping the game the same and not being able to run events because of it.
I feel like this is just FTC with FRC teams. With FRC robots at current size (3ft square) there is no room to maneuver and until you get down to FTC size there is still no room. Then, a team will have to buy new electronics and batteries for these new robots as the current stuff is way to big. Then they have to get a 12 ft field. Everything just becomes more expensive to accommodate this.
I think it’s totally reasonable to build an 22" x 22" inch robot with the current electronics. Yes, packaging will be a nightmare, you will actually have to spend some time thinking about were things go rather than slapping them anywhere.
Remember that this idea hinges on the assumption that there will be few if any in-person events. Thus, the will only be one robot on the field at a time, leading to much more open space.
Starting now, not next spring. Ideally, starting months ago.
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When I first started reading it, I thought he was making a joke about making FRC into FTC. I guess not.
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A change I expect to see? A dramatic increase to the value of the Control Panel.
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I think you mean Wheel of Fortune™
seriously can we change the name of that thing?
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i think you mean DJ Booth…
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Nah, paperweight
I also expect FIrST will produce more power cells.
FIRST doesn’t produce any of the game pieces. They’re all outsourced – I believe this year’s gamepiece was made by Flaghouse, and I doubt we’ll see many new game pieces with the supply chain issues so many businesses have been having.
I think you get my point that first will attempt to fix the issue. I wasn’t thinking about supply chain stuff, but that could totally happen
Quote from the FRC blog post above:
The Power Cell is not changing, and there will be three in each team’s Kickoff Kit but none in FIRST Choice (yes, we are planning on a Kickoff Kit, FIRST Choice, and a Virtual Kit). While we are purchasing more spares per field than we did for 2020, we also plan to continue repairing Power Cells in 2021, when necessary, in the same manner as 2020. You can see details here.
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