View source for 1998

{{Infobox Year
| bodystyle  = width:25em;
| year = 1998
| image  = [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44959 https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=thumb/44959/thumb.jpg]

| tag = [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/list/1998/1 1998]

| header20 = Game Information

| game_name = Ladder Logic

| number_teams = 199

| number_events = 6

| header70 = {{#if:{{{winners|}}}|Awards}}

| chairman_winner       = 
| champions             = [[frc45|45]]
| finalists             = [[frc121|121]]

| prevyear = [[1997]]
| nextyear = [[1999]]

| image2     = {{{altlogo|}}}
| caption2   = {{{altlogocaption|}}}

}}

The 1998 FIRST Robotics Competition season formally began on January 10, 1998 with the [[kickoff]] in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Competition season consisted of five regional events, the [[1998tx|1998 Southwest Regional]] in Houston, Texas, [[1998nh|1998 New England Regional]] in Hooksett, New Hampshire, the [[1998il|1998 Motorola Midwest Regional]] in Palatine, Illinois, the [[1998mi|1998 Great Lakes Regional]] in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the [[1998nj|1998 Johnson & Johnson Mid-Atlantic Regional]] in New Brunswick, New Jersey as well as the [[1998cmp|1998 National Championship]] at the EPCOT Center at Disney World.

Like in 1997, early promotional material referred to the game as simply "The Competition" or "The Competition 1998," and the first team update asked for game name suggestions. The "Ladder Logic" name was unveiled in team update #9 on February 21.

A test game for Ladder Logic was carried out in the fall of 1997, with some teams that had competed in 1997 building test robots for the game<ref>[https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/what-is-first-s-plan-for-team-10000/436312/71?u=duckgwr What is FIRST's plan for Team 10000?]</ref>.

==Documentation==
===Partial game manual and team updates===
<pdf>https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/images/e/e0/1998_Game_Manual_%28partial%29.pdf</pdf>{{TKHref}}<br>
[https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:1998_Team_Updates.pdf Team Updates]<ref name=tkh />

===Kickoff===
[https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44347 Footage on the FRC Archive] <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVpF1arncGM 1998 FIRST Ladder Logic Kickoff]</ref>

===Other official documents===
[https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:98_FIRSTinfo1.PDF FIRST The Competition 1998 pre-registration information]<ref name=tkh />

==Playing field and scoring==
<gallery perrow=4 heights=250px widths=250px>
File:46318 - 1998 game materials.png|Top-down view of the field before a match [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/46318]
File:46319 - 1998 game materials.png|Field setup for the one-on-one rounds [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/46319]
</gallery>

The field is a carpeted hexagon

In the center of the field is an 8 foot hexagonal Central Goal. Extending outwards and upwards from the Central Goal are the ladder-like Rail Goals. The rail has two pipe dividers that divide it into thirds.

Centered on the sides of the field that are not supporting the outer end of the Rail Goals are the 5 foot wide Interaction Zones and Human Player Areas. The Interaction Zone is the three foot deep area where both robots and human players can interact with balls. Human players could not apply weight to this area but could reach or lean over it to grab balls in the interaction zone or load them into a robot. The Human Player Area behind the interaction zone and extending another three feet is where human players are allowed to stand and throw or load balls. Human players must wear safety helmets with attached face shields. Only three balls of any color can be kept in the player station at one time (although a robot can be holding additional balls inside the volume of the Interaction Zone).

Driver stations are positioned off-center on the Rail Goal sides of the field near their corresponding human player areas.

Three robots in the red, white, and blue positions play simultaneously in the seeding rounds and earlier rounds of playoffs, with one on one matches later on. Robots can start in any orientation within the designated 4' by 4' starting area but cannot touch the center goal, rails, or field border. Each team has nine matching color balls. Three balls begin in their Interaction Zone, three more begin on the floor, with three lines of three balls, one of each color, between where the robots begin. One ball of each color begins scored on each level of the Rail Goals, with one ball of each color on each Rail Goal. The Rail Goal extending over each team's starting are begins with one of their balls in the lowest section, with the rail counterclockwise around the field starting with one of their balls in the middle section, and their third pre-scored ball in the highest position of the Rail Goal clockwise around the field. In one-on-one playoff matches, robots play in the red and blue positions, with no white balls on the field. 

Scoring begins when all balls in motion when a match ends have come to a rest (or upon a referees' decision). Balls in the highest third of the Rail Goals closest to the outside of the field are worth three points. Balls on the middle "rung" are worth two points, and balls in the central third of the Rail Goals are worth one point. A ball must be contacting both side rails of a Rail Goal with the center point of the ball above the place of the upper edge of the rails to be counted. Balls scored in the central goal are worth no points themselves but each ball doubles the score from the balls on the Rail Goals. A ball is considered scored in the central goal if the central plane of the ball is below the top rim of the goal and within the outside edge of the goal.

Tiebreaks are determined first by the team with the least penalties or warnings during the match, then the team with the most balls on the Rail Goals, then the team with the highest (or next highest, in the case of a tie) ball on the ladders, then by number of balls in the central goal, then the team with the highest ball in the central goal, and finally the team with the most opponent balls in their player station.

Each match lasts two minutes. The control system is automatically enabled and disabled when matches begin and end.

===Game strategy===

Because robots started under the three-point ball of one of their opponents (or their only opponent in the 1 on 1 matches), a common opening move was to extend upwards and knock the three-point ball off the rungs. The bulk of match play often focused on human players and robots trying to get as many point doublers into the center goal as possible to ensure a good stackup of doublers before worrying about the balls on the point rungs which were more vulnerable than balls scored in the goal.

Robots could pass balls of an opponent's color to their human player both to take them out of play and to give the human player ammunition to toss at opponent's balls on the rungs to try to descore them. Some robots were built to squeeze the balls between the rungs of the goal and ladders to make it harder to knock them out of position, and some human players got good enough at throwing the balls with enough force that they could shoot them in through the pipes forming the sides of the goal.

Towards the end of the match, play would shift towards more offense on the rungs, with robots often adding a ball to a three-point rung and then camping over it to protect it from the human players or other robots. Human players would also shift focus towards throwing any remaining balls at high-value opponent balls on the rungs, trying to knock them off and leave them with zero points to double from the center goal.

Because of the way the double elimination tournament was structured, the one on one on one elimination rounds would sometimes see two teams focusing on a single harder opponent to try to knock them out before the one on one playoffs began. This two-on-one strategy is what caused [[frc47|team 47]], heavily favored to win the championship after three regional wins with the first swerve drive, to be eliminated at [[1998cmp|Nationals]].

==Robot construction==
As was the norm for the era, the majority of robot components came from the [[kit of parts]] or [[Small Parts]] catalog. The Small Parts allowance for 1998 was $425. Some components, like fasteners, lubrication, and some pipe fittings, could be used in unlimited quantities.

Robots must sit unconstrained inside a 36" by 30" rectangle and be no more than 48" tall. Like in [[1997]], a [[sizing cube]] was used as part of the inspection process. Robot weight, including battery, could not exceed 130lbs.

No (intentionally) detaching robot components were allowed in 1998. Robots must display their team company and school names and logos, as well as their team number on at least two opposite sides of the robot. Numbers must be at least five inches tall.

===Control system===

<gallery perrow=3 heights=250px widths=300px>
File:44337 - 1998 control system kickoff.png|The transmit side of the control system at [[kickoff]], with two PC flight sticks, button box, and RNET radio [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44337]
File:44338 - 1998 control system kickoff.png|The BASIC Stamp controller (center) with Tekin speed controllers and several motors included in the kit [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44338]
File:45583 - 1998 control system.jpg|The 1998 transmit board [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45583]
</gallery>

The 1998 control system consisted of a Transmitter and Receiver pair. The transmit side of the control system was similar to the 1997 and previous control systems and had ports for PC joysticks and custom button controllers with DIP switches inside to change which controls were routed to with outputs. The Receiver box included a BASIC Stamp II and could be programmed using PBASIC. Any sensors used had to be connected back to the Receiver.

Available motors include drill motors, van door motors, car seat motors, and the "tape drive" motors used to drive car windows up and down. Drill and van door motors must be connected to the Tekin speed controllers. Instead of drill batteries, 12 volt gel-cell batteries were first used this year.

Like many other years before and after, [[RNet]] radios were used to establish wireless communication between the robot and driver stations. Teams were supplied RNets in the kit but had to surrender them before competitions and use a tether cable to control their robots instead, with RNets being supplied to teams before upcoming matches to use for that match.

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{{TeamListFooter}}

==Official events==
[[1998tx|1998 Southwest Regional]]<br>
[[1998nh|1998 New England Regional]]<br>
[[1998il|1998 Motorola Midwest Regional]]<br>
[[1998mi|1998 Great Lakes Regional]]<br>
[[1998nj|1998 Johnson & Johnson Mid-Atlantic Regional]]<br>
[[1998cmp|1998 National Championship]]
==Unofficial events==
[[1998utcrc|1998 UTC Robot Challenge]]<br>
[[1998aroz|1998 Baxter Ozark Mountain Brawl]]<br>
[[1998wmri|1998 West Michigan Robotics Invitational]]<br>
[[havoc_on_the_hill|Havoc on the Hill]]<br>
[[1998ratr|Rumble at the Rock III]]<br>
[[1998parc|1998 Pennsylvania Robot Challenge]]

==Team Forum==
A team forum was held August 12, 1998 at the FIRST offices in Manchester. Over 50 team representatives, FIRST staff members, and invited guests attended, including [[Dean Kamen]] and [[Woodie Flowers]]. Topics discussed included the possibility of playing the same game or modifications of a similar game for several years in a row, the role of the human player and how much impact they should have on the match, and the role of professional engineers in the teams.

A more complete summary of the team forum can be found below.

<pdf>https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/images/0/0f/98_teamforum_summary.pdf</pdf>

==Notes==
<references />