Re: What we learned from week 1
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xPbuEmmgxE

The above is a link to the match you mentioned. I think the loss is far more attributable to 1519 bombing full-court shots off-screen than to defense played on us. We had the unfortunate event of our partner 319 dying near the middle of our pyramid preventing 610 from getting to our preferred shooting spot. It also prevented our 30 pt hanging partner, 3467, from getting to their preferred hanging spot. At 1:15 you can even see 3467 trying to push 319 out of the way, only to be blocked by both the leg of the pyramid and 610 shooting! The credit for this match really has to be given to 1519, who simply shot the lights out... simply an amazing team and robot.

There are a many examples of defense played on at GSR, in quals and elims. One of my favorites is this match, where both 509 and 166 play some very significant defense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3FMKiaUXIM

Truthfully, we faced some form of defense in nearly every match we played. Our drive team did practice a fair amount playing against real defenses. They were fortunate enough to do drills against robots piloted by Nick Lawrence and Kaj Anantharajah. Nick and Kaj were given tall robots, and ours is of course short. Our driver (Austin) was told to make them look as silly as possible.

Let's just say there were some silly looking drivers...

...and a lot of broken robots

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

I must say, week one was interesting. Not as high of scored at HH than I expected.

I did notice, however, some really mean and borderline illegal defense being played by a few teams when their robots malfunctioned during qualifications (lookin at you, 341 and 25). Between slamming mechanisms into opposing robots, driving on top of opposing robots, and slamming into the opposing driver station repeatedly, to the point that the field broke; it was...interesting.

All in all, a good weekend. Not what I expected, but hey, I only got hit by a frisbee once...in the face...

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

As related to defense, I think that "anti-defense", or running interference on defending robots, is a potentially valuable role, especially to help full-court shooters get into position and also if teams start trying to block robots from getting to their pyramid. I wasn't able to watch many matches, but I saw this kind of play paying dividends pretty often...

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

Ah, the travails of week one.

I am sure these and the other referee issues will be addressed in their conference call. I would love to listen in.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

The quotes, the smiley face, and the explanation after the PS is there to ensure that no offense was given. This is the internet and even if you go to lengths to try and show that your statements are your own opinion and are not disparaging there is still a possibility of miscommunication.

I apologize to all those that took my remarks as disparaging when they were not meant that way. So another lesson learned from this thread. :-)

Actually I am feeling a lot better today than when I made my previous remarks, I was reading the average scores posted earlier as being per robot instead of per alliance. I do think we will find a place to fit in with our climber / dumper after all. And regardless we will have a cool looking robot and a lot of lessons learned to go forward with. Another lesson is don't post on Chief Delphi disappointed, stop and evaluate first. Emotions suck sometimes. :-)

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

G30 is called very inconsistently.

In eliminations, a lot of matches turned into 6 robot scrums at midfield, with each side trying to get back to their feeder stations with 1 or 2 bots while the other(s) played D.

The lower rung of the pyramid is a bit lower than everyone expected.

Being 1/32" of an inch off the ground is as good as being 27" off the ground.

The pyramid is FAR less rigid than I expected. Anyone attempting a 30 point climb, especially on the corner, better hold on tight.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

This. Had to exit in the quarterfinals because G30 wasn't called at all. We also had some bad planning and poor strategy on our part, and I don't think we would've gotten past semis, but I was absolutely furious when we lost our last match and the 3 infractions of G30 weren't counted, but one accidental instance of G36 was counted.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

For anyone competing in the coming weeks and planning on using the pyramid as a protected area, I suggest you keep the following handy:

I think it's very clear to anyone that reads G30, Q138 and Q145 that intentional contact between a robot touching it's pyramid or loading station and a defender/opponent is prohibited and the opponent will be penalized. With that being said, if you are shooting, and that contact causes one of your shots to miss, a technical foul should be assessed as the match score has now been changed (effect on the outcome of the match).

That being said, there was a certain degree of 'right of way' protection that was assumed to have been created by G30 - that being if you're touching/nearly touching the pyramid and attempting to play the game (score) you would more or less be allowed to do what was required to continue playing - which we were told was not the case. Whether or not this will be called uniformly across all events has yet to be seen...

I guess the TLDR here is to go over G30 in detail with the head ref if it's relevant to your strategy, whether it be climbing or shooting, and make sure that if you're touching the pyramid, that it's CLEARLY visible from all/most angles on the field. A few teams had little flags and fiberglass sticks that would deform when they were in contact which seemed to make things a bit easier.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

Well after 1422 caught fire, I learned that Team 639 had the right idea in putting a smoke detector on their robot.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

It was also noticeable how the practice pyramid rigidity deteriotated as the regional progressed. By the end of qualifications it was significantly looser than the field pyramids. I suspect that absent some upgrades the field pyramids will become interestingly dynamic by Week 6 competitions.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

Do you have a specific measurement for the height of the first bar? Or at least a ballpark value?

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

We measured ~28 1/4" from the floor to the bottom of the first bar (+/- 1/4" depending on which rung and which pyramid).

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

How are they that far out of spec? That is completely unacceptable.

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

I remember thinking to myself watching the webcast that the 610 robot driving looked an awful lot like Nick driving 1503's 2011 bot. Now I don't have to wonder why, Nick helped train Austin!

Re: What we learned from week 1
 

We were going with 29-1/4" that we measured at NH.

We believe it was from the 1/2" plywood base + carpet lining + carpet underneath the pyramid. So the 30" from the actual floor the bots drive around on is 30"...but then you need to take into account the 3/4" of base underneath the pyramid.

The practice field didn't have the plywood base, so it threw my team all off until late Friday afternoon. Our hanger still didn't work as well as we would have hoped...but we didn't expect that curveball.