Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I think the best defensive robots will have a catching mechanism, so that they don't have to let up on defense to drive over and get a ball from the inbounder. All they would have to do is catch the ball and spit it out towards the mid-field zone for their alliance partner to pick up.

I think this sort of robot will be a good pick for a strong ground loading and shooting robot, who will likely be an alliance captain.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I personally think that if a robot is able to constantly interfere with the enemy alliance's ability to run cycles, they would be a great choice.

If you can delay cycles by 6 seconds every cycle, over 5 cycles the enemy alliance is doing 30 seconds of nothing.

In my opinion, a top-tier defensive robot at a regional would be able to get between their alliance zone and the enemy's goal zone within the timeframe that it takes for an alliance to pass, and then block the shot. This would also let the defending robot be part of the Assist, giving their alliance points.

in terms of offense, I think that a top-tier offensive robot should be able to score in high goal with high accuracy, as well as be able to work independently, should their alliance require it. Catching would also be nice for an offensive robot, because that would let them catch other robot's balls for additional points per cycle.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I stand corrected. Blocking shots will be very very difficult.
Based on personal experience from recent testing.:)

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

You don't have to block it. Just alter the flight of the ball enough to prevent it from scoring. Also would you mind posting pictures/videos of your blocking attempts?

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

By blocking, I'm assuming you mean putting something in the path of the ball. Have you found ramming or pushing a shooting robot to be more effective?

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

Ditto.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

From intuitive knowledge of many years in FRC?

Blocking a 24-25" diameter ball, aimed at a 25' wide by 37" high goal, using a pole of 6" maximum diameter is unlikely to be able to alter its trajectory enough to stop scoring. Unless you catch the ball dead center of its diameter, it will tend to roll off to one side or the other at approximately its original height, and still go through the goal. Additionally, the shooting robot (think TeamJVN sweet spot capable) simply rotates their drivebase a few degrees ~10-15 ft out from where you're at, and the ball misses you entirely.

Ramming or pushing a shooter is almost assured to be FAR more effective (though I'm still unconvinced of the ability to effectively detain a well designed shooter with a big sweet spot).

In my estimation, defense is going to be focussed on preventing the ball from GETTING to the shooter. Preventing the shooter from scoring is going to be hard.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I haven't tested all of my defensive driving strategies on all FRC drive bases, but I can assure you. You hit the right corner of a robot before they shoot. You will effectively knock their shot off course.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

Remember stingers? I wonder if teams will drop a piece of metal with a hard to move surface when shooting.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I've never experienced a team that used one of those.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

Hrm....



Not that we're shooting mind you...

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

World Champion alliances won't have the ball touch the ground

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

QFT--or at least, touch the ground very little.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

Off its intended course, sure, but for robots with ~10ft+ long sweet spots? A few degrees will not make their shot miss. You're going to need to spin them 30+ degrees I would estimate in order to make a shot miss. Additionally, you're assuming they have to do any fancy lining up to make the shot in the first place.

I can assure you that many robots will have such generous shooting areas that they need not even stop moving to make their shot. Can you hit a moving target at the exact moment they're going to try to release the ball? Maybe, but more often than not they'll outmanoeuvre you, get free of you for a second or two and get the shot off. Since you can only react to them after you've observed their movement, you're going to be slower.

In FRC, especially in recent times, the best defense is a really good offence.

Re: Abilities of the top teams at a regional?
 

I keep seeing similarities to soccer in this year's game. You're less likely to stop a forward from scoring onces he's in the box (i.e zone closest to goal) unless you have a goalie, but you're much more likely to stop the ball as the team tries to advance it up the pitch. In FRC, this relates to the movement of the ball up the field - the center white zone is the spot for defense, and especially as balls come down from truss shots.

Another thing to note - if an alliance opts to shut an opposing team down by playing man to man defense, you again play it like soccer: you draw the defender to follow you wherever you go. What does this go? Well if the defender is doing their job right, he should be stuck to the offensive threat, meaning there is now open space SOMEWHERE ELSE on the field. You can either play the ball into the space for your offensive bot to breakaway from the defender in a '2nd gear sprint' or one of the other bots can rush in and score. You would only get two assists max in case of the second option, but at least your cycles aren't getting bogged down and you're still scoring.