BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

While I was wrong about my preseason predictions and the hefty majority of Robots focus on totestacking, there are definitely a few capping specialists. Out of the ones youve seen who would be the top? The robots that are the best at what they do. They can stack as well but I'm talking about the most effective robot that only caps.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

540 was an incredible capper at Virginia. They were getting 4 or 5 caps on 4 stacks, usually 2 of them with litter, during elims.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

+1 best capper on the field in VA. I bet they will be much better when they get to Worlds. really excited to see what they are going to do.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

For purely capping I'd say 1741 is the best in Indiana. There are some other good cappers but they also focus on building stacks.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

133 and 138 are leading the charge in New England along with 230 efficient stacking.

138 is reliable at retrieving two from the step in auto and pulled off the double stack several times at UNH by placing two RCs on one stack.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Actually saw your match with them in the playoffs. Was a little disappointed. It seemed like the combo of a weaker 3rd alliance, 138 struggling to finish the double cap and 3467 seeming a little slow ended up finishing you guys.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

It was a disappointing finish but stuff happens. Our operator lost his gamepad for the first 30 seconds so we went from doing two 5 stacks and a 4 stack to two 4 stacks and a 2 stack. That slow down really prevented us from giving 138 something work with quickly.

The first RC 138 placed upside down went on a little wonky so the second one wasn't going on cleanly. It was one of the first times they couldn't pull it off.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

192 in Utah was awesome at this strategy. They could pull all 4 off the step 1 at a time and stack on 4.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

I'm a bit biased but 1711 was great at capping during elims at FIM Kettering. We capped every stack that was made with bins and noodles every match, usually about four 4 stacks.

Then, at FIM Traverse City, we learned that we can stack fairly well, better than most everyone there. Our strategy changed and we no longer were capping!


Other Michigan teams have mostly been capping their own stacks. There was a rookie team, I believe 5507, that was a bin stealer and capper at TC. It was okay, but it has a rather large footprint which made it unwieldy.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Now this interests me - is there any match video of it?

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

TBA seems to only have videos where 624 competed, but there are two with 192:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2015utwv_sf1m6 -- they get two from the step because the red alliance gets there first, but they do cap those two and get one tipped over one from their side.
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2015utwv_qm56 -- they get one from the step but since they don't have other stacks to cap, they stop with that one

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Darn, I was excited to see that alliance, As well as Riot Crews. I want to see 138 with either you guys or 1519 at New Englands.

It was interesting how UNH shaped out. It seems that the field was deep right up until the 5th seed selected their last team, then it dropped off drastically. The fact that the 2nd seed lost to the 6th seed speaks for that in my opinion.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

We liked our partners as well. We worked over lunch to help improve 1307's claw to help them handle totes more efficiently. First quarter final they got 10 totes on the platform and in the second match got their three stack capped w litter.

Once we saw the #6 alliance formed we knew who was going to put up some of the highest scores. Both 213 and 501 were putting up a lot of stacks and 133 is an impressive finisher.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

At the Long Beach Regional, 330 gathered all 3 containers in auto and set them aside for later use. Later in the match, they picked them up again and set all 3 on top of their 2 stacks of 5 totes. It also looks like they can use that arm to get the containers from the middle.

Edit: Stacks of 5

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

After just watching the matches. I think you guys might have won had you got into semi-finals. 138 could pretty much guarantee in each of the 3 matches that none of your opponents would get more then 3 barrels up as they could pretty much control the step.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Error Code Xero, team 1425 out of the PNW. They can easily cap 5 and 6 stacks with litter.

Edit: Here's a match from them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O62_guepwW0

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Wait, so you guys placed two RCs on one tote stack? How did they score that?

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

They (138 Entropy) placed the first RC on the stack upside down slightly sticking off the backside of the stack and the second one rightside up on the other end. Very difficult but their drivers made it look easy.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

3322 is one of the best I have seen in Michigan. So far they can only go up to stacks of 4 or 5, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could do 6 by MSC. They capped a 3rd RC on 2 stacks with ease at Woodhaven. Not to mention they can grab all 4 RCs off the step in auton.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Agreed, General Scoring formula is just 10*level of tote
a double capped 4 stack is 40 points.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Pun intended?

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

93 is the best robot that only caps stacks I've seen. They played a crucial part in their alliance at Lake superior and Wisconsin.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x4E4yEX2irw

This is what happens when you get two good capers. They have to build their own tower. Two 6 stacks with time to cap more but no stacks around to cap.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

1572 got seeded #1 because of their capping ability. Their RC score was way above everyone else at Inland Empire. The alliance they made with 359 was awesome.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

I would like to mention our alliance partners from Utah, 3374. I don't have any video, but with their arm they could snag recycling containers from the step, place litter in them, and place them on our stacks of 4. In the first quarterfinal match they actually pulled all 4 from the step.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Pic of 138 Entropy's double capped stack at UNH day two.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

I enjoyed 1305 in Waterloo.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

This ONLY applies to double-capped stacks, though. For a single-stack that's capped, it's... wait for it... 6*level of tote. (Technically, it's 4*level of tote, plus tote score--but there are some shortcuts that can be made.)

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

The best cappers that we on 1519 have been with in New England are 95, 138, and 230. All three of these robots are capable of capping stacks faster than we can build them, so we'd be very pleased to be allied with any of them!

The Grasshoppers, 95, were our first pick at the Week 1 Granite State District Event and were essential for our elimination alliance strategy.

Entropy, 138, was also a great capper at GSD and has upped their game quite a bit since Week 1 through both a canburglar and double-capping as demonstrated at UNH in Week 4. However, we haven't had the privilege of playing with 138 since Week 1.

The Gaelhawks, 230, were our first pick at the Week 3 UMass Dartmouth District Event. In addition to being a quick capper, they are a good landfill robot in their own right.

We're hoping we have the opportunity to be allied with each of these awesome capping robots at the New England Championship event!

There are also some other great capping robots we haven't had the privilege to play with yet, but since this topic is focused on capping robot's we've seen personally, I'll limit our shout-out to these three.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

We realized that we couldn't stack well from the center station with the state of the polycarb at St. Joseph (our robot requires driver alignment of totes, you could say,) so we picked alliance partners to join our seventh alliance who could stack solidly. We made it into the semifinals, capping 3 stacks per match. It was a similar strategy we used at Southfield to make it into the semifinals.

Not the best by far, and not our only strategy (we usually build a 4 stack with a container on top, from the chute,) but it worked out well for us. We really enjoy 2014-style alliance play. :)

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Aw shucks, thanks! We'll be competing at North Bay this weekend, and this time our robot won't freeze in autonomous!

For anyone who's curious, our stacking arm uses three string potentiometers mounted on our three pivot points, and autolevels the wrist holding the recycling bin so that the driver doesn't have to manually control everything. We thought we could only cap 4 tote high stacks, but in Waterloo we capped off a 5 tote stack in eliminations with ease.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Team 93 (New Apple Corps) was almost definitely the best capper at Lake Superior. They won by having an alliance with 4818, an amazing tote stacker, and doing 4-5 stacks a match, multiple ones with litter.

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

Will worlds see a demand for purely capping robots? Will they need to go 5 high? 6 high? It will be interesting to see alliances form. Does highly seeded hybrid team take a stacker or a capper first round?

Re: BEST Capping Robot youve seen.
 

We're thinking yes. If you're paired with one of the best landfill robots and best human loading robots, you're going to need someone who can solely focus on the extra cans from the step.

With some modifications to our robot we should be able to take cans from the step and place them on top of 6 stacks on the scoring platform. We're going to spend the next few weeks testing to see how reliable we'd be at it and be ready to make that change at champs as needed.