This year HotShot! challenges teams to develop robots capable of delivering balls to a center goal area. To help locate the goal an IR seeker sensor was included in this years kit of parts.
Attached to the center goal, 14" below the goal mouth, will be an IR beacon emitting a 1200 hertz signal that the IR seeker sensor will recognize.
The beacon was custom designed for the HotShot! game by the folks at HiTechnic with some help from our FIRST engineers. It's now available on the HiTechnic web site for just $27 plus shipping. You can get there directly with this link: http://www.hitechnic.com/products. Teams are limited to one beacon per registration.
We'll be holding the first "Screamage" Invitational at FIRST Place at the end of October and I know there are many other events scheduled prior to the beginning of the official FTC Championship events that begin in December. Get going on strategies and design. We can't wait to see what teams come up with.
Ken
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Should we extend the FTC World Championship into Saturday?
In the past FTC events have ended Friday night with the final matches and closing ceremony. We could extend this and hold our closing ceremonies about noon on Saturday. That would give teams another couple matches and loosen up some of the tight timing between the FTC closing ceremonies and other events.
We'd like your feedback. Would you rather extend the FTC World Championship - or continue to end on Friday? Let us know what you think in the poll box at the top right of the blog.
Thanks
We'd like your feedback. Would you rather extend the FTC World Championship - or continue to end on Friday? Let us know what you think in the poll box at the top right of the blog.
Thanks
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
HotShot! Game Stuff
This year's game incorporates an IR emitting beacon to allow teams to target, using an IR seeker/sensor on their robot if they choose.
The beacon-sensor combination operates on a specific frequency to minimize the impact of ambient IR noise. A company named HiTechnic designed the beacon for the game this year. HiTechnic also developed and provides the motor controllers in the FTC kit. They're also the folks who developed and manufacture many of the LEGO branded sensors used around the world. Impressive group.
In any case we're going to be able to offer the beacon to teams at a very reduced cost. They'll be available via the HiTechnic website next week - one per team. Thank the folks at HiTechnic if you get a chance.
The balls used in the game are available via the web at http://www.stee-rike3.com. An interesting note is that this company developed the yellow balls specifically for FTC. They used to be red. We went with gold to have a non-alliance color. Gold also happens to be the official FTC program color... a little known fact since we've just recently adopted it.
Hopefully you're starting the strategic thinking around the game and pulling together all the details to have a successful season. Don't forget to review the judged awards stuff early on too. In addition to using your Engineering Notebook - look at the PTC Design Award criteria. We've added additional allowable materials like Kydex, ABS, and PETG and still allow aluminum and polycarbonate. We've also increased how much of these materials you can use.
A rudimentary example of how to form polycarbonate can still be seen from last year at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DggCGw0C1c0. I'll try to film something using basic vacuum molding later this season.
Use your creativity to come up with some cool designs.
Talk later,
Ken
The beacon-sensor combination operates on a specific frequency to minimize the impact of ambient IR noise. A company named HiTechnic designed the beacon for the game this year. HiTechnic also developed and provides the motor controllers in the FTC kit. They're also the folks who developed and manufacture many of the LEGO branded sensors used around the world. Impressive group.
In any case we're going to be able to offer the beacon to teams at a very reduced cost. They'll be available via the HiTechnic website next week - one per team. Thank the folks at HiTechnic if you get a chance.
The balls used in the game are available via the web at http://www.stee-rike3.com. An interesting note is that this company developed the yellow balls specifically for FTC. They used to be red. We went with gold to have a non-alliance color. Gold also happens to be the official FTC program color... a little known fact since we've just recently adopted it.
Hopefully you're starting the strategic thinking around the game and pulling together all the details to have a successful season. Don't forget to review the judged awards stuff early on too. In addition to using your Engineering Notebook - look at the PTC Design Award criteria. We've added additional allowable materials like Kydex, ABS, and PETG and still allow aluminum and polycarbonate. We've also increased how much of these materials you can use.
A rudimentary example of how to form polycarbonate can still be seen from last year at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DggCGw0C1c0. I'll try to film something using basic vacuum molding later this season.
Use your creativity to come up with some cool designs.
Talk later,
Ken
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Game Hint Explanation
Closing the loop on what the hints were about:
Clue 1 - Image of Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park Texas. Cedar Park is the location of the Wiffle Ball Championship. The game element for HotShot! is not the trademark Wiffle Ball but a similar one designed for harder use.
Clue 2 - Image of Uranus, discovered by William Hershel - thus the references to William Perry and Herschel Walker. William Herschel is also credited with discovering the IR range of the spectrum. As you know the IR beacon and sensor are a key part of the game. This information would have been available as soon as the first kit shipped - at which point the "secret sensor" would be known.
Clue 3 - Image of the Transformer "Hot Shot" - Game name for 2009/2010. People got the first two but I saw no note about this one - and it was pretty easy...
Clue 4 - Just an FYI, the two robots shown were gifts for Affiliate Partners attending the conference at FIRST in August. To the side of the two robots was a Wiffle Ball on a cup. My thought was that it would go un-noticed. I decided to pull the photo about 2 hours after posting it and replaced it with the photo-shopped version you saw. This was the original photo:
Clue 5 - Photo of the kit of parts. We sourced 95% of the parts in HotShot! from Home Depot. To test the accuracy of the bill of materials we went to Home Depot and asked them to kit up the list and deliver it to FIRST. They did - and this is what it looked like on the FIRST dock. For about $60 in delivery fees this might be a good option for Partners and perhaps some teams without a truck.
Clue 6 - Was all about determining the number sequence 4-16-60. This refers to the 4 bonus balls, 16 balls allocated to alliances at the start of the match (8 each), and 60 balls in the ball chutes. The New Yorker cover was from 4/16/60 as is Curt Young's birthday. Sea Hunt aired the episode "The Living Fossil" on the same date.
Clue 7 - In addition to a couple references about firing and shooting the photo was taken through one of the scoring elements. The red PVC pipe seen through the hole is the ball chute release arm. Teams may have been able to determine the scoring element based on the unique ribbing on the inside of the ball.
The blog got a ton of attention leading up the the launch so I guess it served a purpose. I was encouraged to see the increased traffic and some of the resulting discussion on Chief Delphi.
I'll keep this blog populated with some key information and some of my thoughts as well. Thanks to the GDC for help with many of the clues.
Finally - just a reminder, this blog is written solely by me. It includes stuff on my mind and things that I hope teams and volunteers get some value from. I do read your comments. If I see a thread or issues that need to be addressed I'll do that here too.
See you out there,
Ken
Clue 1 - Image of Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park Texas. Cedar Park is the location of the Wiffle Ball Championship. The game element for HotShot! is not the trademark Wiffle Ball but a similar one designed for harder use.
Clue 2 - Image of Uranus, discovered by William Hershel - thus the references to William Perry and Herschel Walker. William Herschel is also credited with discovering the IR range of the spectrum. As you know the IR beacon and sensor are a key part of the game. This information would have been available as soon as the first kit shipped - at which point the "secret sensor" would be known.
Clue 3 - Image of the Transformer "Hot Shot" - Game name for 2009/2010. People got the first two but I saw no note about this one - and it was pretty easy...
Clue 4 - Just an FYI, the two robots shown were gifts for Affiliate Partners attending the conference at FIRST in August. To the side of the two robots was a Wiffle Ball on a cup. My thought was that it would go un-noticed. I decided to pull the photo about 2 hours after posting it and replaced it with the photo-shopped version you saw. This was the original photo:
Clue 5 - Photo of the kit of parts. We sourced 95% of the parts in HotShot! from Home Depot. To test the accuracy of the bill of materials we went to Home Depot and asked them to kit up the list and deliver it to FIRST. They did - and this is what it looked like on the FIRST dock. For about $60 in delivery fees this might be a good option for Partners and perhaps some teams without a truck.
Clue 6 - Was all about determining the number sequence 4-16-60. This refers to the 4 bonus balls, 16 balls allocated to alliances at the start of the match (8 each), and 60 balls in the ball chutes. The New Yorker cover was from 4/16/60 as is Curt Young's birthday. Sea Hunt aired the episode "The Living Fossil" on the same date.
Clue 7 - In addition to a couple references about firing and shooting the photo was taken through one of the scoring elements. The red PVC pipe seen through the hole is the ball chute release arm. Teams may have been able to determine the scoring element based on the unique ribbing on the inside of the ball.
The blog got a ton of attention leading up the the launch so I guess it served a purpose. I was encouraged to see the increased traffic and some of the resulting discussion on Chief Delphi.
I'll keep this blog populated with some key information and some of my thoughts as well. Thanks to the GDC for help with many of the clues.
Finally - just a reminder, this blog is written solely by me. It includes stuff on my mind and things that I hope teams and volunteers get some value from. I do read your comments. If I see a thread or issues that need to be addressed I'll do that here too.
See you out there,
Ken
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hey Hot Shot
We hope you like HotShot! The Game Design Committee put a ton of work into the game and I think it's paid off. The reactions we've got have been tremendous.
Soon to follow will be information on where you can get the balls and how to get your hands on the IR beacon. All registered teams will get emails on that soon.
Some images from Saturday kickoffs around the country:
Michael Coleman in Florida -
Oregon's ORTOP sponsored note for early birds -
Washington State, Eric Stokely woke up just in time! -
Soon to follow will be information on where you can get the balls and how to get your hands on the IR beacon. All registered teams will get emails on that soon.
Some images from Saturday kickoffs around the country:
Michael Coleman in Florida -
Oregon's ORTOP sponsored note for early birds -
Washington State, Eric Stokely woke up just in time! -
Friday, September 11, 2009
Game Release Eve
A bit different than Christmas Eve, but I promise you that FTC elves are working hard to ensure that the kickoff tomorrow is exciting for everyone. At 5:00pm tomorrow, here at FIRST headquarters, we'll launch by posting the rules and documentation as well as the annual video and game animation.
During the day tomorrow 14 live kickoffs will fire off across the country including Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, San Jose and Los Angeles, CA, North Carolina, and Missouri.
I'll shoot out updates from these events via the Blog as we get them here at FIRST.
We're excited about this year's game and think you will be too.
During the day tomorrow 14 live kickoffs will fire off across the country including Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, San Jose and Los Angeles, CA, North Carolina, and Missouri.
I'll shoot out updates from these events via the Blog as we get them here at FIRST.
We're excited about this year's game and think you will be too.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Almost Game Time!
Technology through the ages has moved civilizations forward. I was talking to my friend Curt Young this weekend about how popular culture had characterized technology and change throughout history.
In the 60's the race for space was in high gear driving technology. Before that the undiscovered frontier was below the ocean. Sea Hunt was a popular TV series back then. One episode had something about finding a rare fish in the Indian Ocean, I think the title had something with the word Fossil in it...
Again, I digress, must be the pending game announcement and season kickoff.
In any case I hope you're gearing up for a great season. Talk later.
Ken
In the 60's the race for space was in high gear driving technology. Before that the undiscovered frontier was below the ocean. Sea Hunt was a popular TV series back then. One episode had something about finding a rare fish in the Indian Ocean, I think the title had something with the word Fossil in it...
Again, I digress, must be the pending game announcement and season kickoff.
In any case I hope you're gearing up for a great season. Talk later.
Ken
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
On the way - kits are shipping
Last year we had a new kit, new game, new software, new, new, new. This year we've made improvements but the kit is largely stable. Those of you who registered, and then placed your orders, you'll have them soon if you don't have them already.
This is an image of the first kits staged and ready to ship last week. These kits are now in the hands of FTC teams. If you have not registered get going. We're up quite a bit over last year's team count at this time.
See you out there!
This is an image of the first kits staged and ready to ship last week. These kits are now in the hands of FTC teams. If you have not registered get going. We're up quite a bit over last year's team count at this time.
See you out there!
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