Ladder Logic
From FIRSTwiki
Ladder Logic was the name of the 1998 season FIRST game. Ladder Logic was the last game before FIRST switched to alliances, and some people consider it the last OLD FIRST game. This was also the last year that teams changed their number from year to year.
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Contents |
Field Layout
Like Toroid Terror, the field was a hexagon. In the center of the field was a vertical tube, 8 feet tall, made of Kee-Klamps and schedule 40 pipe. There were three "ladders" that started at the center column, 3 feet high, and rose to 8 feet high at the edge of the field. The ladders had three positions, and there was room for 2 balls in each position. Each team had it's 9 balls of it's color (red, white, and blue). Each team had one of it's balls start in each of the three positions (each on different ladders). Each human player started with 3 balls, and there were 3 balls for each team on the ground between the ladders.
Game Description
1 point was scored for each ball in the lowest rung of the ladders, 2 points for each ball in the middle rung, and 3 points for each ball in the highest rung. Each ball in the center column doubled the team's score.
Tournament Structure
The main tournament was double elimination, in which every team competed. The matches were 1v1v1 where the top scoring team was the winner and the other two lost. When it got down to the final 16 teams, the game switched to 1v1.
Kit Of Parts
Ladder Logic was the first year that the 12v motorcycle batteries were used. Prior to that, two drill batteries were used, and they only had enough juice to last one match. FIRST had giant charging stations where you would swap your used batteries for freshly charged ones. FIRST raised the weight limit from 120 lbs to 130 lbs to accomodate the bigger battery.
Rules
Detaching parts from your robot and intentionally tipping were made illegal, due to the adverse changes in gameplay they made in Toroid Terror.
Strategies
The way to maximize your score was to have 1 ball in the 3 point position and the rest of your balls in the center column. Most teams spent their time filling up the center column, and only did anything with the ladders when the center column filled up.
Robots
There were three main ways to pick up balls. Some teams used suction cups, which weren't very effective at picking balls of the ground, but worked well when the balls were captive, such as inside the robot, or on the ladders. Most teams used tongs of some sort to grab the balls, and then opened to release. Lastly, there were some teams that used rollers to suck the balls into the robot, and then reversed the rollers to push the balls through the sides of the column or up through the ladder. The rollers had the advantage that a ball could be left wedged in the ladder, so it was much harder to knock off. Some roller configurations had the additional advantage of "sucking" balls out through the sides of the central goal to reduce opposing scores.
Misc Info
Sources
- firstrobotics.net 1998 gallery
- Team 140's description
- Team 177's description
- Team 45 History Compilation
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