Many of you are too young to remember it, but there once was a “placebo” robot used at FIRST competitions to fill in during situations where a robot was unable to compete. There is a mystery group of students working on a placebo robot for OCCRA 2002. If the Game & Kit Committee sanctions it, this robot will take the field to help a team when their alliance partner is unable to make it. Stay tuned for more details.
This is a really good idea. It removes one of the major complaints about alliances (partners not appearing). Any hints on who the “mystery group” might be?
The G & K committee has decided to go ahead and allow the placebo robot; more details will follow. Who are the mystery builders? They are high school students who veteran robot builders but not on any team this year.
The OCCRA placebo will not be a true placebo; the students tell me that the robot will probably be able to score a ball in the low tower and will probably pull the cart. They are more concerned with style than substance. They’re out there to entertain the fans, not to win tournaments.
An alliance consists of two schools and the robots that were made by each; you can not have one school building 2 robots and “giving” one to another school. One of the things that all teams must attest to at inspection is that their robot was built 100% by students at their school.
How would the scoring work with the “Placebo” robot? Would it have it’s own cumulative score, or would it be transfered to the team that it replaces? And what happens if the “Placebo” robot itself doesn’t work?