Feeder Robots: Do They Exist?

[Michael Corsetto]

It seems that many people are talking about robots who's primary purpose on an alliance is to take tubes from their LANE to the scoring robots in their ZONE. These have been dubbed "Feeder Robots"

My question is, do they exist? I'm not asking for the hypothetical scenario where a feeder robot would be great. And I'm not looking for reasons why it is a horrible strategy. I just want to see it done (if it is done at all).

So, after Thursday practice rounds, have you seen any feeder robots? If so, what would you say their effectiveness was and why? Do you have any video we could take a look at?

Excited for the real matches to begin tomorrow!

-Mike

[XaulZan11]

I think once teams learn they can't score as well as they planned, you will see more feeder bots and defenders.

[waialua359]

I think it remains to be seen.
After watching several practice matches today, it doesnt seem like anyone is strategizing for it at all.

[Jamie Kalb]

I think once teams learn they can't score as well as they planned, you will see more feeder bots and defenders.

Yeah, I think this pretty much hits the nail on the head. I'm willing to bet that very few teams designed their robots to be feeders from the beginning, but many who intended to be scorers will find themselves less effective than they predicted and will rededicate themselves to being good feeders instead. This happens pretty much every year with defense; by the time alliance selection rolls around, there are dozens of teams who originally came looking to score now billing themselves as "strong defenders."

[Hawiian Cadder]

feeder robot = some rookie team who accidentally direct drove their kit gearboxes to their kit wheels and has a robot that weighs only 60 LBS.

[Navid Shafa]

Off the top of my head, the only one I distinctly remember is 1875. Actually, read about it here and saw the video:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93052

Of course they aren't a "Traditional Feeder", They essentially launch them across the field to their alliance members, I guess this is feeding :D

I'm sure we'll see a lot of rookie bots helping out other teams doing such, interested to hear more unique approaches which are as outrageously unique and awesome as 1875.

[team222badbrad]

That is one of the purposes of our Tiger Tail, but it also has the option of scoring. :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulbMG5fmH-I

[Kyoshirin]

We played as a feeder in our first match today because we believed that with us feeding and our partners scoring, we could have got three logos. We discovered that feeding isn't very useful when it takes just as long for you to drop the tube off and your partner score as score yourself, or when you have human players that throw almost the entire length of the field. The rest of the day, we did not have any bots with the feeder assignment on our alliance.

[GaryVoshol]

314 is playing pure feeder at Kettering.

[BrendanB]

It is overrated in some ways due to the amount of tubes on the field in the middle. We were going to feed tubes but I can't see that happening until elims when the human players rarely through them out. It just becomes mad dash to the rack even with three scoring as long as you organize who scores where.

[MagiChau]

There was a number of tubes thrown onto the field at Traverse City usually in the middle if it doesn't curve and go outside of the field. If you can reliably flood-load it effectively eliminates a need for a feeder. My team had a round we played in where we got all our tubes from the middle of the field.

[Refresh]

We have a feeder robot who have on average been able to create a 3-4 tubes within the time period. We're noticing in Traverse City that a majority of robots picking from the floor are struggling to control the tubes.

[XXShadowXX]

Team 2604 played feeder for one or two matches (they still don't let me out of the pit). It is noticeable how much more the alliance is able to score, but most bots still seem to struggle with picking up off the floor. And then you still get beaten by a minibot.

[Refresh]

Yeah if your able to get even one minibot on the tower you are most likely going to win. It is a big bonus.

[Navid Shafa]

It is a big bonus.

Maybe we should start calling the tube-scoring a bonus instead, because the mini-bots don't appear to add a small amount extra to the score :yikes:

Pretty much every match I saw with a mini-bot deployed was no-contest. Funny thing is, there is general a correlation between good mini-bots and good tube-scorers. Then the no-contest becomes domination :)

Check 118 and 148 in Alamo, it's ridiculous to watch as they score 6-7 tubes, often they scrap their effective mini-bots. Either way they end up doing well, I really want to see 148 eventually get that second ubertube up in autonomous.

[Radical Pi]

During late quals and all of elims at FLR, I don't think I ever saw a single robot enter their lane to get a tube. The strategy became all of the human players chucking as many tubes into the center of the field as fast as they can and both alliances basically pulled from the same pool of tubes. While I doubt this was in the GDC's original intent, the extra level of competition between alliances to control the game pieces made the matches 10x more interesting.

I also saw the human players actively attacking opponents by throwing tubes at them while trying to score. Surprisingly effective!

[Grim Tuesday]

Most of the high level teams at FLR, including 217 and 2056 used this strategy, fully cutting out feeder robots:

They score in auto, etc etc, and then their human players throw two sets of logos onto the field. The teams proceed to push/herd the tubes into their zones, and then hang them. They venture out into the full field only to hang their third (possibly fourth) logo. Their third alliance member then plays defence on the opposing alliance. The good teams then deploy their minibots very quickly (of course!).

[JewishDan18]

20 became a feeder today, since we found that 3 robots trying to score was too many. we played defence and pushed tubes forward, and it worked pretty well.

[KrazyCarl92]

As Dan said, feeders exist in a big way. We played a hybrid between feeder and defense in the finals and that seemed to work best. However, these robots will not be very successful unless they can put up a competitive minibot and a consistent auto.

[Wayne TenBrink]

In elims at Traverse City, we had 141 move thrown tubes into the end zone and run interference while we and 201 hung them. It worked quite well. I'm pretty sure that nobody ever went back to the slot.

A good HP changes the job of a feeder - changes it from a tube carrier to a tube pusher, which doesn't even require the ability to carry a tube. Throwing a tube is a lot faster than feeding it through a slot.

Here is a video of TC finals match 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qEr44_0CoY

[KrazyCarl92]

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

[BrendanB]

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

In some ways I agree, but it depends on how you organize them. 175, 176, and 1519 organized themselves well were all consistently scoring on the rack.

[Siri]

If "feeder" means getting a tube from the Feeding Station, possessing it across the field and dropping it in the safe zone, then no, I haven't seen many and most are't fast enough to be useful. If "feeder" means getting tubes to where they're useful for scorers, then yeah, there are a bunch and they can definitely be helpful for your average and even above average scorers.

Our strategies at FLR didn't always specify "feeder" though. If you've got bots scoring upwards of 3-4 tubes each or are playing a tube-scarce or defense-necessary match, they play a big role. If it's quals and you've got 3 scorers at 2-4 tubes/match with normal opponents, switching around often worked out for the best. It's not really crowded with good communication and it helps if someone runs into issues.

Defense is only important with some alliance pairings and often isn't really what you need to max your RS. And at least at Week 1 FLR using a 2-3 tube scorer as a dedicated feeder tended to slow scoring down. Tubes tend to be close for most matches, though that should change some as HPs improve. Most bots didn't go past (usually even close to) their towers until Deployment.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Also note, it seems as though if you have three good scorers on your alliance, there really isn't enough room for all three to be scoring at a fast rate and IMO it looks like a three scoring role alliance is NOT ideal due to the amount of space available. Rather, having another team play defense or facilitate the hanging of its alliance members is more crucial.

... and this was the exact strategy (2 scorers and a defensive bot) we played against you (20), 40 and 131 in BAE Quarterfinals.

QF1-3 was truely a tough, fun match.

[wilsonmw04]

feeder robot = some rookie team who accidentally direct drove their kit gearboxes to their kit wheels and has a robot that weighs only 60 LBS.

So a feeder has to be a team who doesn't know what they are doing?
Let's keep the comments positive.

To answer the question of the OP: yes, there are feeders out there. We made one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVyRMAc8a1E&sns=em

[vigkvagkv2]

Team 1778 will be using a feeder robot at the Seattle Regional.