The 2008 FIRST game was released yesterday. The season is on! Some of my thoughts:
- Â Car steering could have a huge advantage here. If tank steering is used, smooth yaw control is vital. Omnidirectional drive systems are more complicated than necessary.
- Multispeed transmissions will be advantageous for either.
- There will be all-drivetrain bots. This is a good n00b year.
- I hope they built the end of the rink really, really well. 50 feet is plenty of time to get up to a ridiculous speed even with the limited motor and power systems.
- It will be interesting to see how people work around the IR board’s susceptance to interference, especially from six remotes.
- That’s a really, really big ball.
- A method of throwing the ball a short distance will be advantageous for hurdling the ball. It will be faster than holding the ball and dropping it on the other side of the overpass.
I think this is a pretty good year for the NGHS Robotics team to introduce a bunch of n00blets. There are only a few people out of 25-30 which have any experience at all (the team powerhouses, namely me and a friend, graduated last year). I’ll only be able to coach in person until the 16th, which is after the first week. By then, a design should be hashed out anyway – a solid design is definitely first priority for them.