Car Nack Predicts 2011-6
- Car Nack hopes he is wrong, however he foresees controversy over early mini-bot deployment issues.
Car Nack has spoken
Everyone’s going to LOVE the refs this year.
I sense a lot of drama and a lot of the enforcement of <T04> in our future.
Another prediction that is a sibling of this one is, too much controversy over the deployment height.
This will really be a problem as teams go deeper in the playoffs. Teams will be more evenly matched and so will mini-bots. Deployment time will be the deciding factor.
So unless you install a light curtain around the base of every pole, there will be plenty to argue about.
Car Nack is wise.
I think week one is going to be FUBAR as far as penalties are concerned.
I’m glad I’m not reffing 'till week 2!
Agreed, BAE/GSR is going to be one of the regionals where those rulings will be highly contested, I assure you. I sense lots of teams with their names in yellow on the board.
How do you simultaneously watch the bottom of the tower and a clock at the same time, if you’re a ref?
I’ll be Refereeing week 1 at Finger Lakes Regional, I’ll let you know how it goes
The great Car Nack is wise (and likely unfortunately correct).
But what miracle fix is everyone expecting after week 1 other than allowing deployment at any time or cutting the minibot points in half? I don’t see either happening.
You don’t! The base of the pole has lights inside that will have difference sequences of lighting depending on the period of play, and activity of the pole.
I’m sure there’s going to be some sort of noise that will play once the match is down to the last 10 seconds. This will make it easier for everyone, refs and teams alike, to know when it is legal to deploy the minibot. As far as deployment height goes, we might see a line on the poles to show where the max deployment height is.
There is. But seeing a black Sharpie line on metal at that distance could be tough, depending on finish of the pole and how many Minibots have tried to rub the Sharpie off by climbing past it since the last touchup.
I don’t expect a miracle at all, just week one being guinea pigs for the rest of us maybe producing minor rule tweaks and clarifications.
I also expect many problems with zone infraction rules.
The GDC has an impossible job creating the rules. They do an amazing job but there is always rules that need to be fixed after week one.
I foresee a lot of teams in earlier regionals, if not in all of them, forgoing mini-bot deployment unless it’s absolutely necessary to win.
I feel very sorry for the refs. As I said in a thread at the beginning of the season, wouldn’t it be horrible if the win on Einstein comes down to someone who deploys .5 seconds early and doesn’t get called on it?
Some method should have been made to do this automatically - perhaps a pressure plate that the minibot had to depress (much like the one at the top of the tower), Laser switches around the mast, something. The game idea is phenomenal, but the implementation is tough on those volunteers. A camera looking down from each match running labview vision detecting if someone breaks the white circle might have worked as well.
Gracious professionalism will be absolutely crucial this year.
The Minibot should have first hit a plate on the base of the tower, then hit the plate at the top of the pole.
Then we could have called them Mortar-bots.
And that won’t work anyway, because HOSTBOTS are allowed to break the plane of the tower (and even contact the pole) before DEPLOYMENT – it’s only minibots that can’t.
I know that we plan on being in position a few seconds early, with our deployment mechanism touching the pole and ready to fire the minibot!
We are planning on a similar tactic.
I absolutely agree with this.
It would be nice if there was some kind of vertical sensor during the last 15 seconds to see when they cross that line, but that would require a LOT more programming, money, and probably something else I am overseeing.
Or like Art was saying, plates on the bottom that first had to be engaged before the minibot could be deployed.
I know for a fact our team is going to be at the pole somewhere around the 15-20 second mark to get ready depending if we need to line up or not (which depends on weight).
To me, it is kind of set up to fail: Such a vital part of the game that requires the bots to be deployed at a very precise time with humans determining whether the teams deployed early or on time just seems sketchy to me.