In other words : be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it.
For people saying you can test in pools, do you really think the local YMCA will let you put your metal robot, which may still have metal shavings on it, which also may have oil on it, into the pool where they teach 5 year olds how to swim? No.
Flat out, no. There may be water elements next year, but I guarantee it will not be in a pool.
the gyro only measures the angular heading of your robot.
the CMU camera was pretty sophisticated! im having trouble thinking of a task that calls on something more! mabye knowing depth!
Perhaps what they might have in the future is a more powerful camera that can be used for auto and also be used for the driver to control the bot underwater.
69 posts and 1150 views - does the expression “beating a dead horse” mean anything to anyone? :yikes: This thread was supposed to be a JOKE 
; I didn’t expect anyone to STILL be debating the merits / consequences of an underwater competition AS WE DO EVERY YEAR in the traditional “What do you think this years game will be” thread. Maybe I should write a white paper about the issue and give a talk at next year’s national conference on it.
Will some Administrator please put me out of my misery and close this thread before it takes on a life of its own. I promise to only post real rumors from now on.
it’s the off season. we’re supposed to think Extra Big, Big and Unrealistic, and take Gary’s Sarcastic Jokes seriously. What else do they have us do?
I don’t know Conor, but if I was so have a say on this, I would just blame it all on Gary. 
IF theres water in the game, maybe there will just be a small VERY SHALLOW stream for us to cross for extra points.
Also, i cant believe rookies haven’t been brought up in this thread – imagine a rookie team waterproofing their robot as well as having the struggle of just building it!
I agree. If there is water in the 2006 game, I will blame it on Gary.
-dave
Aha - finally something new to debate:
Is the probability of finding water in the 2006 game higher or lower than the probability of finding water on Mars?
You aren’t going to give up, are you?
Actually rookies were brought up a couple times. You underestimate their ability. I read about a group of kids who was about as rookie as you can get entering in a underwater compitition not only did they do well but they won beating MIT and many other colleges. (i have no idea why a high school group was in a college compitition) If its a requirement people manage thats why we do our best work when we push ourselves. I guarinty you teams could do it and actually water proofing a robot is’nt as hard as it sounds.
Yes, blame Gary. For everything.
And may I suggest that if a water element isn’t possible for the robots, why not for the human players? Maybe a dunking booth, and the robots have to gather up balls to toss to knock the human players in?
Heidi
That would be cool! Design a robot to throw something. It could even be safe if FRIST used a net around the field
Not quite.
When most people around here say gyro they’re referring to an angular rate gyro. This will measure how fast an angle is changing on whatever axis it’s aligned with. That means you can align it with your heading, and integrate its output with Angular Rate/Time to track you angular heading as it changes. But switch an access and it can track the tilt of your robot. It doesn’t measure any heading/tilt, just the rate of angular motion. You can use 3 gyros for one on X, Y, and Z axis if you’d like to track your heading and tilts in 3 dimensions.
that would be awesome!!
i can just see it tho, lets go test our robot… who wants to get wet?
If that would be the case then I would hope that the “human players” could be a mentor only position (I wonder who would win in a Dave vs. Heidi tryout?)
Worst case senario IRI turnaround match.
Also if anyone hasnt noticed that 120 AMP main breaker is waterproof (or so they claim…)
Underwater?
Been there, done that.
It is difficult to find a pool, but it’s also difficult for us to find a FIRST size carpeted playing field. Testing individual systems can be done in a tub.
Safety? It is always a concern. Propellers can be in a screened enclosure, etc.
Waterproof every ting? Yes it is a challenge.
Worth it? When it works, it’s very rewarding.
Will FIRST do it? I doubt it. There are very few venues that could host regionals or championships. (This year the national ROV competition was held in the Neutral Buoyancy lab at the Johnson Space Center). It is not a spectator friendly competition. Not a lot to see above the water.
Anyway, information about the MATE underwater competition at
http://www.marinetech.org/rov_competition/
Cool video that mixes up FIRST and MATE. It was produced to demonstrate teamwork, not to promote FIRST or MATE or our school. http://posts.flyingspot.com/clients/bigrock/files/071805
Our videos and such can be found at www.FalconRobotics.org Go to ROV, then videos
We use a lot of old FIRST parts. It’s an activity that we like to do after April. It costs less money than FIRST. There were quite a few FIRST teams competing this year.