We are wondering if the fields are consistent enough to depend upon a long shot to be accurate. Our thought is to design the bot to hard stop into the control panel and the boundary fence. We don’t have the experience to know if such a design is workable with variances in field construction. What do teams with more experience think?
All fields are built to spec following FIRST’s instructions and measurements. Fields are built by humans and human error is expected but tolerances are high. Fields are used multiple times throughout different events so wear and tear is expected. You are allowed on field at the start of your events to calibrate to the specific field. But all fields are the same and consistent enough to be accurate if your device is built well.
I think just ramming into the trench table would work well, I don’t see the need to also use the field boundary. On that note, the goal is quite wide, so small misalignments at the table are not particularly consequential.
You could also build some adjustability into your hard stop that you can use tune your aim at the event.
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The fields are built using instructions from FIRST. I can say that the instructions are quite in-depth to make sure the fields are as precise as possible. There are also critical measurements that the FTAs, FTAAs, and Field Supervisors will verify. These measurements will range from tape lines to walls and/or field elements, field element heights, and many others. Generally the tolerances are 2 inches or less.
Please See Section 3 of the Game Manual as well.
Section 3
“The ARENA is modular and assembled, used, disassembled, and shipped many times during the competition season. It will undergo wear and tear. The ARENA is designed to withstand rigorous play and frequent shipping. Every effort is made to ensure that ARENAs are consistent from event to event. However, ARENAs are assembled in different venues by different event staff and some small variations occur. For details regarding assembly tolerances, please refer to the 2020 ARENA Layout and Marking Diagram. Successful teams will design ROBOTS that are insensitive to these variations.”
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