Game concept: FIRST Throw Down (ice hockey)

Competition FRC Game Design
1

here is a google doc with the basic rules me and a few people in the frc discord came up with

tell me what you think of it and any rules that should be added! thanks

also 1540 you should totally make this the bunnybots game :slight_smile:

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Non-carcinogenic regolith?
On a serious note, I would be concerned with the necessity of purchased swerve on a game like that- the advantage of increased wheel torque (not sure if that’s the right term) of a WCD is unneeded on a low-friction surface and the sheer acceleration capability of swerve would consistently outdo WCDs which would have trouble with the required rotation for translational acceleration.

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but swerve might be harder to control

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If traction is low enough that all drive types can be pushed around easily, why invest in swerve? Why not use mechanum or kiwi drive?

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Well, that’s a matter of the physical material interface between the wheel and the field. In my post, we assumed that a WCD and swerve robot had both wheels of identical CoF (coefficient of friction, ”).

frictional force = ” x normal force = ” x mass x gravitational acceleration
force = mass x acceleration
Therefore,
acceleration = ” x gravitational acceleration

If we guess that mecanum or omni wheels have lesser ” than the ‘optimal’ wheels able to be used on a WCD or swerve, these two drivetrains will offer lower acceleration. However, that does introduce an interesting starting point for lower-budget teams: holonomic movement at a significantly reduced price with less acceleration.

When it comes to pushing matches, it’s a different story. That is based on the mass of the robot and wheels, both positively related with frictional force/pushing-potential, meaning that teams with financial access to swerve will almost always win a pushing match (again, assuming the swerve CoF is greater than the mecanum/kiwi).

Can’t wait to see a RWD robot to drift around the field.

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in order to increase the similarity to hockey do the human players get to have a fist fight in the stop between auto and teleop?

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This might provoke arguments about what is the best form of martial arts for teams to learn, paralleling the other arguments found on CD.

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Being on a team from eastern MA, I intend to reach out to the Bruins for a definitive answer, and lessons.

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Wow! Teams will now be searching for a new type of mentor to gain a competitive advantage.

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lmao thats why the shoving endgame is there. in true hockey fashion someone has to get pushed


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new rule: if you can yeet a puck at the other human player and or driveteam, and ko them, good for you :rofl:

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How about taking the shots with a hockey stick instead?

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Honestly, a game like this will likely force teams to actually spend time designing their drivetrain, instead of recycling the Ol’ Reliable WCD/Swerve. It seems like it would be a ton of fun.

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I’m not sure about that. Someone will either figure out how to fit lunacy wheels on a mk4, or find good tread to use with a standard swerve wheel. Even with actual ice, I’m thinking you could do something with a number of skate blades around a hub (like a paddle wheel) that would fit into Mk4. WCD would be even easier to modify. Larger wheels could be an issue for fitting to COTS swerve, but they’d certainly go on WCD.

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Fun concept but I find the endgame a little bland


What if instead robots had to climb onto the bench for the end game? “Low climb” is gripping the arena wall and lifting the robot off the play surface, “high climb” is transferring from the wall (or I guess if you’re build different like 4907 jumping over the wall) onto the “bench” and not being in contact with the play surface or the wall at t=0.

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i think instead of having to score on the opposite goal, maybe having a human player station on the other side of the field? Plus maybe some high goals and ability to preload game pieces.

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i mean it ain’t banned in the rules. i guess you could do it


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What if the goalie is the HP and the robots just pelt them with pucks :rofl:. At the start of each match the 3 HPs draw straws to see who has to be in.

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added pre-loading a piece into the rules
and what do you mean by having the hp station on the other side of the field? it is already across from the goal you have to score in and behind the other goal

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the endgame was made basic but a very risk-reward endgame due to how tricky teleop would be (it would trickier than it looks due to weird cycles)