I just finished putting together my first custom built field for my classroom and I’m ready to paint. I haven’t played with any of the official fields yet, and I want mine to be as close to the official fields as my budget will allow. Any recommendations on what kind of paint I should use (other than white). Should I go with a textured floor paint, or a latex acrylic interior paint, or ??? I mainly want it to be a similar surface (traction wise) so that we aren’t in for any surprises when we got to competitions. Any help is much appreciated!
I3iggy,
I suspect it’s going to be very tough to replicate the field. While I do understand that your budget may be tight, if you want the teams to truly be prepared for the type of field they will encounter at the event, you should use the type of field they will encounter at the event.
The robot **will **perform different on a different surface. Will it be enough to notice? That depends on the level of performance the kids are expecting out of the robot. If the team is hoping to score a few points with a clawbot, the field may not matter. If the team hopes to advance to the World Championship, the actual field will make a big difference.
I would recommend having at least one official field.
That being said…
The actual field is plastic, so it’s very smooth and slick. It is textured, but I would suggest trying to make it as “plastic-like” as possible.
Hope that helps
Steve