Dean Kamen was spotted in the Real Seafood Company, a restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI last week. Reportedly he was with executives from multiple large engineering firms. (the source could not identify the individual executives but did notice busness cards from Segway LLC, MSX international, Ford Motor Company, and others.) The source overheard a conversation on the topic of technology and philanthropy in the 21 century. After the meal Kamen and another unidentified person sat down at the bar ordered sodas (apperntly he was driving?) and started discussing FIRST and the 2003 competition. Details at this point became sketchy however, our source was able to ascertain the following:
The playing field will be two levels.
The robots will start on the bottom.
The balls will be on the top level.
Kamen also sketched a plan for the field on a cocktail napkin. The napkin is not available at this time however the attached .gif file is a approximation of what was sketched.
*Originally posted by Ogre *
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2) I just don’t believe that story. Dean seems to busy to go to bars in michigan. **
True, but there are a lot of big companies in the Michigan area, and Dean could have had a meeting with some of the execs. If so, going to lunch in the area would not be totally out of the question. I could also see Dean bringing up FIRST at such a gathering, as he apparently doesn’t meet with anyone without handing out FIRST literature (he said so on GMA). All things considered, however, I think it sounds a bit fishy to me. Good idea, though.
i think i know why the field shown is only 30 feet long. whoever copied the field from the napkin forgot the extra 9 feet at each end where the robots really start, level to the raised platform in the middle…
Generally they field test the game in the fall. A couple of NH high schools get kits of parts and a rough overview of the game. Six weeks later they play a demo game. Then they discuss what worked and what did not. Then they modify the game and try again. This happens several times. Later the actual game is finalized. So nothing is set in stone until the winter.
BTW I mentored one of these demo teams a couple of years ago. I assume they still do it that way.
That doesn’t make sense because if that was true than so many people would know what the next game would be that it would be impossible to not have a leak about it.
*Originally posted by Jim Giacchi *
**That doesn’t make sense because if that was true than so many people would know what the next game would be that it would be impossible to not have a leak about it. **
The nice thing about the truth is that it doesn’t have to make sense.
But of course this does. The teams that do the trial game don’t really know what the final game will be. First off there are several variations that are tested and secondly there are often huge changes made as a result of the trial run. Thirdly I think that a lot of the trial run teams really like doing it that way. They would not want to lose a good thing by leaking the game or parts of it to “real” teams. It’s a great deal for the right schools. No money to raise. No travel expense. No presure of the competition. THe kids do it all and learn a lot. It’s not a bad thing.
BTW I know that no one on my team went to talk to other schools about it.
That really cant happen because they work at First Place in Manchester over the summer on the Field right above the FIRST camps and there are so many counselors that are on FIRST teams that it just couldnt happen
To be honest. To see possible hints as to what next years field might look like it would shed more light as to what we would have to build. Don’t doubt Dean and his ability to come up with something exciting. I kinda like the fact that we have a kickoff to reveal the new “GAME”. I also like the fact there are people watching Deans every move and to mistakenly listen in on the ideas for next years game. Well anyway no matter what Dean Kamen comes up with my team will always find a way to come up with a robot that can do a lil bit extra work then is needed. Long live Team 522 Robo Wizards.
The proposed game seems so similar to 2000 it’s not funny. Strategy would be way to simple for this game. Collecting balls from this would require only a ball sweeper and a basket. Dean’s too smart to make a game that is so easy decipher so quickly. Every team would have come up with this idea early in the build period. Strategy is WAY TOO SIMPLE. One robot piles in balls, the other stays back and regulates the enemy goal. Besides, it’s really too early to have the entire field mapped out. Dean and the guys are probably still discussing potential basic aspects in which they can create a good game. This seems like a clever way for someone to get their idea onto Delphi without getting mixed in with all of the posts on Dave’s thread. Creative rumor though, I’ll give you credit for that.
IT would be way to easy to figure out that type of game. Maybe Dean did that on purpse just to confuse us and the actual game they don’t think of untill the night before Kick off.
