I think this game is really one of the rare games that challenges each sub team on the team. Before the kick off the electrical and the programming teams were wondering how they were going to cope with the new control system and how alien it is compared to the old IFI system, now the mechanicals are in the same boat with the traction issue. This is wonderful
I think that Lunacy will play well for spectators, with the drivers able to move in a less linear fashion, and with out strange unseen game changing penalties( from a spectators point of view). it will be fun to watch
as for people griping about the cant expand rule, I would remind you that Aim High had the same rule and that was a wonderful game.
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And lets not forget that only the signal light, not the CPU need to be visible from 3’ in front of the robot in its starting position. That is a nice change.
And the flag is gone, too… it actually was a bit of a pain to figure out how to mount it and was a limiting factor on design (at least our designs) the last three years. Not a major, factor, perhaps, but a real one.
But most of all, I like the fact that having a slippery playing surface forces a paradigm shift on all the teams’ drivetrain designs. You can bet everyone is re-thinking their robot literally from the ground up this year!
My main concerns with FIRST over the years have included:
An insular culture. This is a nearly universal problem with organizations, but FIRST has always claimed to be about reaching out and bringing in new people and teams, to show them the fun and success they can have in the world of engineering. It has sometimes succeeded at this, and other times failed. Our team actually dropped out for two years because of the difficulty we had understanding and being included in FIRST’s culture after our first go at it.
The elite teams. No offense intended, folks, but I side with underdogs and those who are dealing with limited resources.
Status symbols. For instance, I don’t find the trend toward “status” wheels necessarily good, impressive though they may be to look at.
“Dialed-in” drive-trains, frames and manipulators.
Anyway, this game addresses a number of my issues. No status wheels here. Tried and true ways of doing things no longer will work. And the comments from Dean and the leadership at the kickoff implicitly refocused us on opening the game and FIRST culture to allow a chance of innovation and success for more types of teams.
I also love the number of constraints. It really adds to the challenge. Without giving away too much, I will say that the direction that our team’s students may be taking their strategy and design means I will not be at all surprised to find more innovative approaches from other teams this year than I’ve ever seen.
I do like this game. As I posted in the thread about disliking the game:
So far, I really like Lunacy- I like games where there’s a lot of strategy involved (so last year was a bit more of a disappointment to me). Everytime I re-watch the animation and re-read through the rules, new complexities jump out at me. I know people have mixed reactions to <G14>, but I think it’s great, just because of how many layers of complexity surround it. I don’t think any of us will truly know what to make of it until we’ve seen it play out in a few competitions. I also like the change that’s been made to the floor from recent years; the whole game has a refreshing feel to it, like it’s a new twist on everything. I even like <R06>, because even though it sounds very limiting, it forces you to work within the intent of the game, but you’re still going to see so many different and unique robot designs that approach the game very differently.
I think this game has a lot to offer and a lot of people are overlooking it because of things they think “are not fair” like <G14>, or the sizing constraints. I think these are the aspects of the game that are going to make it the most interesting and the most challenging, producing unique robots that approach the tasks very differently, and tons of options with strategy that will make for dynamic and exciting matches. I think this game has the potential to go a lot of ways we’re not expecting it to because of rules like <G14>, and a lot of the scoring rules, and we’re going to be in for a lot of surprises. This is going to make matches way more fun to watch and participate in, unlike games like overdrive, where you’re generally just driving in circles chasing a ball for the duration of the match. I welcome the change from the ordinary that 2009 has brought us. That’s more reflective of real-world engineering challenges anyway, right?
I like it. At our kick-off party the whole team was thinking hard. As a mentor it is fun watching the team brainstorm and explore ideas and concepts. This one is full of interesting problems.
We are a lucky team that has found a lot of the balls at a local Walmart so a mock-up trailer is built and the ideas are flowing. As a mechanical mentor I am anxious to see what the team decides to do. I always find it fun to see the difference between what I would do and what the team decides to do, but I am just here to help them optomize THEIR deisgns (and keep then on some sort of schedule)
Yes, I think it will be a decent game. I’m not really in love with the rule about removing cells and supercells because the alliance you played last broke down in the first minute, though. Every match should have the same setup and potential. I also wish autonomous capabilities carried a little more weight.
Other than that, I think this will be a good year!
I love it soooooo much more than last year… no offence to anyone who liked it last year, but some teams were just runing around in circles if they didn’t have an arm of some sort.
And I think it’s great how they changed everything, it’s not the same old stuff (rules and materials -lunar surface and wheels), everything is different. It gives rookie teams just as good of a chance as veteran teams.
wooo! Love it.
I love the game. My favorite part is that they changed the flooring. I been begging for a new floor for years. I think this really levels the playing field. Year after year teams have the same drive train. I am not knocking them for it, why change something that is proven. I also enjoy the variables they added with different scoring. I am excited to see what teams design this year and what aspect of the game will become most important to win.
I like most of it. I have a few concerns, but overall I think it will prove to be quite interesting. I think <g14> needs some kind of a tweak to avoid the problem of a Red alliance penalty resulting in a Blue 2x score, and to do something about very low scores. A team that wins 6-2 should not have two Cells taken away next match. My biggest fear is whether it will be exciting to watch or not. I can envision it like watching cars on a slippery street attempting to get traction and spinning in place, punctuated only by crashes as one finally gets to move.
I LOVE this game. My brother and I were talking the day before kickoff about what we think the game will be and I was voicing my concerns over cookie-cutter drive systems and things like that and this completely addressed that. I have always been a fan of movable goals and major human player participation which this game has. The amount of thinking and strategy that will be involved this year is great. Coaches will have to keep a track of scores very closely and last minute scoring will, in my opinion, will play an important part.
i am a big fan of the game, It presents a different type of challenge then FIRST has ever presented before. They have never really challenged the drivetrain before they had always just made games of just finding a way to score or not be scored on, this one makes you have to learn to play on low friction and pull a trailer. I think most people are underestimating the trailer, anyone that doesnt build one at home will be in trouble when the reach the competition. As a farm boy i am waiting to see everyone try and drive with a trailer, i will be amused.
Welcome the FIRST family! Dean Kamen once said “I guarantee you that this will be the hardest fun you’ll ever have.” and I must agree with him. I remember feeling overwhelmed my rookie year and we did pretty well for a low budget / no engineer team.
Almost every FIRST game has some element that seems difficult to attain, but a solution is almost always simpler than you think.
This year’s game is a complete change for every team, so from that point of view you could consider that every team is in the same situation you are in. We are dealing with something we’ve never encountered before and out proven drive train systems may not work for the most part.
Although I must say that robots on ice would be a better name for this game
As surprised as I am to say this, it is true.
I actually like this game.
As a freshman in high school, and only being on Team 316 since only May of 2008, I haven’t experienced that much.
Although, I did see some of last years game.
I believe that it is QUITE a change from last years.
Going from carpet to “regloth”, and 4 track balls to 144 lunar balls.
I really like the concept for this year. It is a fresh start, but it is going to be challenging to figure out how to design the bot. We have many ideas already, but that is all they are right now.
