Anyone have an Idea how quickly they reload? would they be beneficial compared to human loading?
Never mind, seems like they are way faster if you are able to reach them efficiently! :rolleyes:
Okay, I might sound foolish for asking this, but HOW exactly do they work?
A “Field Attendant” places a tetra on the station everytime a robot takes one off? Look at 3.2.4 in arena pdf.
Seems like tetras are placed on the Automated Loading zones by volunteers. As soon as they are taken form the Loading zone by a robot, they will refill the loading zone.
At least that’s what I’m getting from this! 
ya thats what im getting, for the manual loading zone the human player has to leave the pressure pad and run to the side to put a tetra on the robot. for the automated one the robot just goes to a station where it can get the tetra.
I wonder if you had a robot that could hold a bunch of tetras could you just stay at the station, or would you have to back off and wait a few seconds for the volunteer to put a new one on.
<G14> Field attendants will place TETRAS on the Tetra Loading Stations on the side of the field opposite the HUMAN PLAYERS (ie. the “automated” LOADING ZONE). At any time, a ROBOT may enter the corresponding LOADING ZONE, retrieve the TETRA from the Loading Station, and enter it into play. The HUMAN PLAYER does not have to leave the pressure pad sensor during this operation. When the TETRA is removed from the Loading Station and the ROBOT has left the LOADING ZONE, the field attendant will place a new TETRA on the Loading Station. Robots may not intentionally interfere with field attendant’s efforts to place TETRAS on the Loading Stations. 
You’re only allowed to carry one tetra at a time.
You also have to back off before a new tetra is placed.
so, double no.
[edit]
I thought it said one tetra at a time. I can’t find it now.
are you sure that you can only have one tetra at a time? :ahh:
yup only 1 at a time, but remember theres 3 teams on ur alliance. i guess it should work out fine.
“<G17> A ROBOT that has received a TETRA may not collect another TETRA until it leaves and then re-enters
the LOADING ZONE. A violation will result in a 10-point penalty, and the TETRA will not be SCORED.”
I believe I mis-read this rule earlier. I cannot find what I thought had said you can only have one tetra.
I am unable to find, in the rules, a place where it explicates that your robot may only carry one tetra at once.
It merely states that you may only carry one per visit to the loading dock.
Please elaborate upon your first statement.
–Petey
i just looked at rules again and didnt see anything that said u can only carry one at a time. i guess if u wanted to carry multiple tetras you’d have to get one from the automated loading zone, move back, then come back and get another one as many times as u like or until ur robots carrying capacity is met. for the manual loading zone, ur player can only carry 1 at a time i believe and place it on the robot, ur player would have to run back get another one and put it back on ur robot, for multiple tetras.
Yeah, unless FIRST changes it in an update, you can carry as many as you want, you can only load 1 per trip. So, if the attendant is fast enough, you can drive in, get it, drive out, drive in, get it…
this reminds me of a certain game many years ago (before i even knew about first) where the rule said to put a ball through a hoop to score and people just stood at the hoops putting the ball through and back, through and back…
It seems that everyone is overlooking one major advantage to human player loading.
the human player can load the robot !
the atendant can load a platform !
any thoughts???
Well there are advantages to both. The attendant will definitely be faster because your not disabled in that time, but the human player places it directly onto you. You make the call 
Don’t forget this too - the field attendant will reload the auto zone when it is SAFE. So, yes, they should be relatively quick, but if you have an arm sticking out, or there is some other robot flailing around wildly in that area, causing potential harm to people outside the field, then the field attendant may not be as prompt. They’re not going to risk getting hurt just to load your zone as you sit waiting.
The big advantage of the auto loading stations is on your human players legs, especially if you want to repeatedly get tetras…
It all depends on your robot design really.