Description:
The energy which the kicker can transfer to the ball would be increased. The speed would be doubled.
Why:
To allow shooting at the goal, more challenging environment and more interesting game to watch.
How:
The ‘Kicker Power Measuring Device’ from Appendix C would be changed.
In C.1.2. “This device can measure the power of a robot’s kicker up to a length of 22cm.” would be replaced with “This device can measure the power of a robot’s kicker up to a length of 88cm.”
and C.5.c “Measure the distance that the ball traveled on the device. The distance should not exceed 22cm.” with "Measure the distance that the ball travelled on the device. The distance should not exceed 88cm.
and C.3.2. " Note: The device schematics shows a straight line past the 22cm mark, while the photo shows the line at that point to be curved. Either straight or curved lines are acceptable, but a curved line will request more difficult cutting and the attached device schematic is simple enough for quick construction." with
" Note: The device schematics shows a straight line past the 88cm mark, while the photo shows the line at that point to be curved. Either straight or curved lines are acceptable, but a curved line will request more difficult cutting and the attached device schematic is simple enough for quick construction."
Hi
Thanks for your suggestion
As a RoboCup mentor, I disagree with you.
Increasing the Kicker power reduces the role of robots in the game. This is obviously detrimental to teams that have more accurate robots and spend more time in the code section.
Anyway, in my opinion, We need to focus more than power on being technical and accurate.
Note that I am not TC/OC and this is my personal opinion.
Well by its nature the kicker cannot be used all the time. If there is a robot right in front of you there would be no point in shooting since you would lose the ball and more advanced teams would use that. If you look at Youtube there is not that much time when one team has the ball but the ball is not stuck between two robots or the opposing robots are not several centimetres away, this is why it would not detriment the game, there is simply not enough room for the ball to escape. Several times in a game there is an opening, some breathing space for a robot and if a team can then use that and aim at the goal I salute them since it is a difficult task and they should be rewarded. In this way, the increase of power actually helps teams that are accurate and technical since they can use that, and not only rely on more powerful motors that help them arrive tenth of a second earlier or twelve or more line sensors for staying in bounds, which are two main differentiators right now and which both are not that precise and advanced. There are of course teams that use more sophisticated algorithms for avoiding the line, but many line sensors can give you 90% of the functionality for not so big of a price and remove the challenge and differentiation.
By doubling the speed we are actually bringing back the conditions that were there when the rule was designed because the robots were much slower then and since it was not that big of a problem then I doubt that it would be now.
This increase in the speed of the ball would also allow ball passing and shooting curved balls (not just rotating) both of which are really interesting to work on and rewarding to learn about.