This number (9328490238209) when converted from hexadecimal to text, becomes 39 33 32 38 34 39 30 32 33 38 32 30 39. When these numbers are plugged into in ASCII table, they become these characters: ‘! &”’RS !& RS’. Why does this matter? When this is googled, the search comes up with a few things about remote sensing. Remote sensing, if you don’t know, is the scanning of the earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it. Why is this relevant? Two reasons:
Today, AndyMark tweeted a little GIF that was retweeted by FIRST. What do the two videos from AndyMark have in common? Treads.
What do treads and remote sensing have to do with an FRC game? Remote sensing = images of terrain. Treads = meant for traversing rough terrain. AndyMark is now selling “Rhino Track Modules” .These modules are perfectly priced for FRC and are being released just days before the season begins. If it isn’t obvious by this point, it should be obvious now. The field will be different this year (the 24th anniversary of Maize Craze). Our robots must traverse rough terrain to accomplish the assigned task (but that’s a theory for another day).
Plus, we’re going to war, right? A deciding factor in any battle is the terrain upon which it is fought.
Okay, here’s what I have. I believe the logo that appears several times in the FRC Stronghold teaser video is a re-styled Welsh Dragon, which happens to be the symbol of the Football Association of Wales. (Note, they refer to football in the sense of what we Americans call “soccer”).
Furthermore, I took the first 7 digits of the number clue to be the IP address of 93.28.49.0 which traces to the town of Dunkirk, France. See anything familiar on their coat of arms? Also, from this town is a football player by the name of Robert Malm, who played in the 2006 World Cup.
Dunkirk had an interesting history through the Middle Ages, including the construction of a town wall to protect against viking raids. In the late 13th century, the citizens of Dunkirk fought in the Battle of the Golden Spurs, after which Guy, Count of Flanders gained “de facto autonomy.” Additionally, the Flemish townspeople laid siege upon a castle during the battle. A map of the battle area shows similarities to scenes in the Stronghold video, including flags atop tents.
So, what do I gather from all this? Some teams will construct a wall. Others will knock it down by shooting footballs (of the American variety, because the Security Breach video said we’ve never seen this game piece before) at it, and autonomous mode will be different, possibly at the end. Or, if the game piece is not an American style football, it will be the JW Hol-ee Roller, because that looks more like a soccer ball, and fits more closely with the more global style of “football” and is offered through multiple outlets in red and blue, and is durable. In fact, I think that is more likely. It was previously suggested as a game piece in this post in 2006.
EDIT: And wouldn’t ya know it, the Hol-ee Roller comes in a football shape too. Here’s your game piece guys.
The tread thing has some credence - I wouldn’t be surprised if the KOP kit has treads this year because of the AndyMark video, and the blog post that states that the KOP chassis can execute “basic game play”.
Can you believe this thing is 6 days away?!?!?! Can’t wait!
EDIT: From the blog post: “If we revealed details such as ground clearance, we would be giving away too much of the game.”. Almost proof that there’s obstacles on the field. Also, if you follow FTC, keep in mind this year’s game (not that it has anything to do with FRC, but it has randomly distributed obstacles)
If you assume that the drivetrain in the video is new for this year, then the clearance is only a few inches. Yet it does have the angled tread in front.
Meaning, they are roughly the same as last year’s? I agree. Whatever we are playing with and on, it will be within the capabilities of the average rookie team, and can be done with… Wheels.
While I am pretty sure this isn’t a hint, if you look up the number before and after the center zero you get dark pink and dark lime green. The only time in FRC I remember those colors is the vision targets in 2009. (if this was a hint, that could mean we will have 2009 style mobile goals with blue and red flags on top)
I’m not certain what ‘converted from hexadecimal to text’ means if this is the answer. I can get a lot of different answers, but that one isn’t among them. Also, the character translation isn’t square. In decimal, where 39 is an apostrophe (not a single open or close quote), R and S are 82 and 83, which are not represented.
Interpreting the original number as decimal gives “0x01” as the last byte, which can’t map to 39 no matter how hard I try. Interpreting it as hexadecimal gives “0x09”; no better. Having 9s, it can’t be octal. As far as I can tell, MrMARVINMan’s post is all smoke that doesn’t even bother with mirrors.
Edit:
An average ASCII code is about 75. To reach this sum, you’d need about 128 billion characters. Even if they averaged 128 (just above the highest true ASCII value), it would take 75 billion characters. Doesn’t seem likely!
The Hol-ee Roller shapes (hexagons) match the pattern on the edge of the red flag in the Stronghold video. And the blue flag has the corresponding oblong cut-out shape from the football toy in the same place.
ETA: And those are made of rubber… Something about a rubber duck clue in the “security breach” video…
