Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

I don't think so. Frisbees are going to have a lot less variation between shots so they'll probably end up being more accurate than the basketball shooters in RR.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

Considering the variable density of the basketballs last year and the number of videos I've seen so far, I'm going to say it'll be very easy for a team to build a high accuracy shooter.

I'm not arguing your main point, but I believe the foundation for your argument is incorrect. Maybe.

- Sunny G.

I think the pyramid climbing at the end will be the big game changer. The team that can climb to the top will be the team that will consistently get picked. In other words, I believe that those teams will be the teams synonymous with the teams two years ago with the fast minibots. I also expect a few of those teams to constantly score over 50 points (climb to the top for 30 and carry at least 4 colored discs to dump them in the top bin while they are hanging there.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

What many people are forgetting between RR and UA is the fact that in RR, you had to have a decent parabolic arc on your shooter in order to sink a shot. The goals this year are straight vertical holes, and in comparison to the frisbees, quite decent sized.

As far as a frisbee being difficult to shoot, I believe many people are basing this idea off of a human throwing a frisbee. While it is true that a human throwing a frisbee has so many variables (Finger force up/down, wrist action, arm motion, etc.), designing a shooter that only takes into account the spin of the wheel and the time the disc is in contact shouldn't be too difficult.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

I think there is something everyone is missing in these talks, and that is what happens after the Frisbees are played and shot several dozen times a day? just like with the balls from RR, wear and tear will kick in. A warped Frisbee wont fly as straight as everyone thinks. So I believe being able to pick them up from the ground will be a worthwhile investment of time.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

Think about the time to pick up a DISC and to orient it (if it is upside down).

Versus

Traveling back to your Feeder, and getting 4 discs. Each alliance gets 45 white DISCs, so that is 15 per team. If you can shoot all 15 discs in 90 seconds (allowing 30 seconds for ascent), you are probably doing good.

Having one buldozer that can scoop and dump into the low goal, might be worthwhile. That would let the other two bots in the alliance shoot 22 discs each.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

Can you start preloaded with blue discs? For some reason I thought only white, and that the blue ones were at the feeder stations to begin...

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

I disagree, I think the frisbee will be much easier to shoot. We already have fairly accurate design that shoots pretty far with tremendous accuracy when only powered by a drill. That coupled with the fact that you will probably only need a fixed disk speed, as I doubt the disks will bounce out of the chain-backed areas. This seems to eliminate a lot of need for advanced math and lead to higher scoring IMO

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

Yes I think this is going to be the largest mistake made by a lot of teams. There is really no good way to climb the pyramid. I think the 30 points are worth it if you can pull it off. I think any way you do it it's going to require some VERY sturdy and powerful mechanisms.

My team made this mistake in 2011. We underestimated how hard it was to make a minibot and delivery system. We're not planning to make the same mistake again. We're making it a priority to design a climbing mechanism that works.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

I think another point to be noted is that frisbees weigh a lot less. It will be a lot easier to change their course. And even though there is no arc, aiming will be a whole different deal. Aiming with a shooter no matter how accurate is hard when the shot is being taken from multiple locations. You now also have to factor in rotation, angle, and other factors. And the shape of a frisbee has a lip, a rounded top, and a hollow bottom. This adds more variables to the game. I do not think this task will be terrible to accomplish, but I do think the difficulty is being undercut. And disks will be worn in a tournament same as the balls. RR had its challenges, but I think many are still underestimating some of the challenges this game has.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

As a team, right now we are working on a way to climb up the corner rail on the outside, and score four frisbees for another 20 points. This is going to require intense, robust, lightweight mechanisms, and it might have to be very complex. However, we are also working on a shooter that can at least score 1 point goals in the beginning minute of matches. If we pick up from the player station, we can score two batches in the low goal and then climb and score. Our drivetrain this year is also going to be very robust, and be able to play heavy defense, so as to have that option, in combination with high scoring shooter robots. This giver us an opportunity to, by ourselves, score upwards of 54 to 58 points in a match.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

This seems to be a theme through many teams this year. This to me seems to be a versatile robot. Just playing defense with no ability to shoot or climb seems like shooting yourself in the foot. Defense is reasonable, but t can't be the only trick in the hat.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

You're right, only white discs can be pre-loaded.

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

Wouldn't a warped frisbee, be rather hard to pick up off the ground?

Re: Ultimate Ascent Strategies
 

An idea I remember my team thought of was a robot that caught all the missed frisbees from the opposing alliance and just shot them across the field for our alliance partners, thus capitalizing on their mistakes.