Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

I agree that this challenge is one of the hardest yet, but isn't that the point of FIRST? If the objective is to train students for a realistic work experience, then this game is perfect. In the real world, problems don't always have easy answers and long deadlines, and you have to work past that.
In short, bravo FIRST, and thank you for a very difficult challenge.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

I really hope to see another team (rookie or not) create a giant net that extends to the full 84 in mark so that they can stop teams like this. Guarantee in a regional where this strategy is prevalent and benefiting a team, the alliance that wins will have a robot just to do this...

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

We're looking at the possibility of rigging our robot to do just that, just in case, if we have the weight...

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Same :)

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

my team has been having some trouble with the climbing portions so where it was once a student/mentor project. Now it is a full mentor project that has taken the last week up:confused:

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

I absolutely agree with you Dave... I read your post and feel so much in the same boat as you, it actually made me feel a bit better. I've been at this for 13 years, have a good amount of resources... and don't feel we will make our benchmarks for this year... Each year we seem to do a bit better with building the bot plan, but it has been a real switch up this year. It is a good thing, but seriously, 112 perimeter is just so limiting. We will get something together, but the dream of being better that the 3 day bot, is sadly fading. I'm glad they did the 3daybot, but now we all compare our bots to it. If you can't make it better than that, why not just build that bot?

And there in lies a problem we have on our team... we have a few mentor resources, but not enough to get through these problems with design. So ultimately we are having to forgo either floor pickup, 20 pt hang, or both.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Dave, Doug and others -

Thanks for making us all feel a little bit better and a little less alone.

This game would have been challenging without the 112 in. and 54 in. limits.

It's made my brain hurt.

- Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Join the club David.
Some of our students in our program average over 300+ hours outside of school during build season. This isnt an exaggeration, and we had some crazy ones put in 400 in the past.
The problem with that is an adult is here also.
Adding the whole money issue for us and having families (I'm a daddy and husband), makes it even more so.

There are pressures to not tone it down, let some things go, and outright doing less.

Donors give more when you do more, which indirectly affects your success as we all focus on robot building and student learning experiences.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Hmmm. I'm sure someone will do that...

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

The number of people who mentor our team has exploded over the last 4 years. I directly attribute our team competitiveness to gaining some incredibly talented mentors in just about every field, from business to spirit.

Even with that many mentors, none of us have time to get everything done. My 3 kids now ask me if I'm going to work, or to robotics. They both consume equal amounts of time right now.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

This is my 5th year apart of F.I.R.S.T 4th as a mentor and I would say this game is hard to an extent. Ultimate Accent has mechanics designed into the game that no one in first has ever seen or can look at other examples in previous games. The last two games most teams could accomplish everything. For example 2012 Bridge balancing could be done if you had just a capable drive-train. The end game currently requires a lot of thought and F.I.R.S.T is now making you make trade offs or think of the game in an entirely different way than the usual. As far as resources and time spent it is pretty heavy this season the question is how many teams can rise to the occasion and figure out how to play this game effectively to the fullest. I know my team is working though the weeks and are learning all the time. I think this is what FRC is about and is why I am still apart of it.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Yes this year is definitely hard. Right now, week 3 and we don't even have some key components settled out. We figured that 30 points might sound like a good thing to do, but there are too many variables that play a huge factor. What if the robot falls off? How much space are we willing to exchange for a climbing mechanism? We realize that the top scorers will have a successful 3rd level climb; if an alliance with three teams were do the same, they will be almost invincible. Also by reading throughout cd, many teams don't seem like they are picking off the ground, just feeder. Our goal is to make a great bot, with a fast, simple intake mechanism from the floor, and a precise shooter. But so far some stuff is looking really dismal atm.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

I quit

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Lucky. My students won't let me. :D

Just kidding. But man..... I know we can do this, but this season is just going to be one for the books. This is a game where to do it really well, you do FIRST and nothing else. It consumes you. The reward will be when this thing all comes together and works. The difficulty in design for this is a big step up for us. I like it, but it's scary.

Re: Ultimate Ascent - Most Difficult Ever? Too difficult?
 

Couldn't agree more. Goes back to one of FIRST's mottos: "Its the hardest fun you'll ever have"

This season is different from last year. Maybe its because its my 2nd year now and I know how things go, but I definitely have a lot more stress than I did last year. I feel like this game is a lot less definite. The season more unknown. Last year, you could pretty well predict how well you were going to do. We could tip the bridge very well and shoot ok, so I figured we'd have an ok year, and we did. This year, Im seeing a lot less teams that build these all-in-one bots that are very successful at every area of the game. Sure, they'll be there, but not like in previous years. And because the aim of the season is no longer to do everything well, how do I exactly qualify at what point of functionality our robot will be successful?

If we go for the 30 points, I could see that making us a pretty good team, giving a guaranteed 30 points + some more every time. Or we could show up and everyone can get to the third level, and all of a sudden we're just a average bot that gets 30 points in a gave where 60+ points is the norm.

Its just a different gameplay, and I cant decide if is more or less fun than before :D