Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

One thing that surprised us this year was our performance at the one regional we went to xD jumping from 43rd to 10th wasn't what we had planned c: but now it gives us so much more confidence for next season nwn

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

Heh, I remember the announcer saying that when you got an award at Seattle.

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

What really surprised me was the *relatively* low number of disc-related injuries and "Ultimate Descents".

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

I was surprised that full-court shooters were not blocked most of the time. Our very first match in Hub City we helped one of our alliance partners put on a structure to block the only FCS there (glad to see you made it, Appreciate; good luck in Archimedes). I thought that'd be happening all the time, both in qualification and in elimination matches.

In our design sessions we dropped trying for a FCS pretty early, because we thought they'd be easy to block. Obviously, some teams built some really, really, nice bots using this strategy, and it worked out well for quite a few of them.

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

This is the first year in 10 years of FRC that my internal estimate of robot scoring ability was less than than what we actually saw on the field. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

Frisbees are the most consistent flying gamepiece we've ever had. The foam basketballs of 2006 and 2012 were just not very uniform, and even with an extremely rigid structure, close shots, squish-o-meters, and closed loop controls you would still miss. They were also less dense, meaning aerodynamic forces were a less negligible part of the force balance. Drag is not a fun thing to deal with for small squishy objects with varying surface characteristics at low speed. On the otherhand, it is dang near impossible to miss a frisbee shot! Even going for the comparatively small 3 point goal, teams didn't miss much. Frisbees are dense and consistent.

Frisbees also behave alarmingly well when left to their own devices (unless you are 67 at the MSC). It has long been a personal rule that you always keep power on the gamepiece, because it will break your heart if left to its own devices. Frisbees in a bucket "just worked", and this saved many teams from developing their own hopper.

I would love to know the number of Ri3D "clones" (understanding this definition can vary). I bet there are probably 100 robots that are pretty close, and several hundred more that used something from that video in developing their own solution.

There was also a significant amount of information sharing on CD, with people talking about their experiences with the Banebot wheels vs. pneumatic wheels, among other things. I don't remember as much manipulator specific information being shared in previous years.

I was surprised at the number of working 30 point climbers. They were relatively rare, but I had figured they would be closer to the rarity of suspensions in 2010.

I didn't anticipate the FCS actually working, but clearly the GDC did. (Or they got lucky with the 84" rule)

I think for once we thought frisbee pickup would be harder than it actually was. In ball games, it can be really hard to collect because you knock the balls away with your frame. Frisbees don't do this, they just stay put on the ground.

All in all, I was surprised that robots were better than I thought they would be. That is a very pleasant surprise. :)

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

Us, too.

I guess one of these years I'll stop being surprised when robots that can't do anything but drive around don't play defense until (maybe) elims, but every year it surprises me.

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

We have always had a 10 point hanger

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

I was at two regionals this year where no team "Graciously Accepted."

Wetzel

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

At one of the competitions I attended, the FTA asked all the representatives to rephrase their responses. Quite the good natured prank, it really annoyed the 'traditionalists' in the stands. :D

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

I talked to all the team representatives before selection at all 6 events I went to this year, two I attended with teams and 4 as FTA. It wasn't until Baltimore in week 7 that I realized I could use the drivers meeting as a bully pulpit. :D

I am hoping that all the teams selected on Galileo will have interesting acceptances! :yikes:


Wetzel

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

I was pretty sure scoring would be high based on the ratio of the scoring objects' size to the area of the goal mouths. I was somewhat amazed that the team did not decide to attempt more than we could reasonably expect to do. At less than a third the meeting hours of other teams, we just do not have the manpower to "do everything." The team showed considerable maturity by not insisting on doing too much.

Re: What has surprised you this year?
 

I was suprised how hard it was to build a 30 points climber (we did it all the season) and how easy it is to build a shooter (we did it in this week before championship). We will be able to do everything in tha championship but it is a bit ridicules how the scoring is not equal to how much the task is hard.