Wall Bots...
 

I've got 2 words for every wall bot out there...

Midfield Collisions...

Maybe the answer isn't as clear cut as you think it is.

Good Luck,
Andy Grady

I agree with Cory on this one, back in 2000 you could attach to the upper bar and the lower part of the ramp for stability. I don't think that any RampBot will be invinible this year seeing some of the drivetrains I have seen already.

How well can you stack if your robot is invisible?

It appears that the main argument against the ramp-dom is the fact that his partner will be fighting a 2 on 1 battle. This won't be much of a problem. The ramp-dom already has an advantage his team has 29 boxes(the wall) in scoring position at the start of the match. The 2 oppsoing bots have to move those out of positon and onto there side, then stack them. All the ramp-doms ally has to do is knock 8 boxes out of scoring positon then start to defend the side alleys. He doesn't have to go onto his side to do anything.

I'm not saying that there won't be amazing stackers or bots that I haven't even conceived of there but the ramo-dom will be a key player. Stackers that can low-ride and move 6+ boxes over the bar(all at once) could pose a danger to a ramp-dom. Cranes with a huge reach could pose a minor danger but unless they can move more than a box at a time it will take them to much time. Bots that can toss the crates would be fun to watch and are a real danger but they'd have to toss them 12ft+.

Yes, i was referring to the Black balls from 2000.

Ummm Strategy... or Psychology
 

well i don't think it would be 2 Vs. 1

simple reason if the past of wut ive seen ... this is all based on wut i see most teams scout around and find out that in there next matches they see a really strong robot.. lets say a ramp dominator... for the rest of the time the team dedicates themself to figuring out how to stop or counter the strong robot... so let say im on the hill and im not coming down for that match my opponents would be tugging at me to get away.. and kinda forgetting about my partner... making an 1 vs. 1 Match lol and it might even be worst if the opposing alliance thinks they got a chance they might dedicate all the robots to getting the strong one down .. and it be a 1Vs 0 match up where my partner going around the field doing wut ever to win

this is just an observation really but from wut i see most teams seem to be hungry to take the strong down.. not always a good strategy

Speaking from my experiance with MOE last year, I would not count on being immovable. We thought that we could do it, and it worked some of the time, but when push comes to shove, the good robots WILL move you. This is especially true if this is all that they can do. They will pound on you for 2 minutes, and 2 minutes is a very long time; repeated pounding will bend and break parts, allowing you to be moved. And now you are talking about attaching yourselves to a slick HDPE surface, and it couldn't even be done with filecards on Carpet. If you guys really thing that rampbots will rule the game, I think your in for a surprise.

I would speculate that any robot worth its weight where defending the top of the ramp is concerned will not be the first one on top.

If you're strong enough to withstand an onslaught while sitting on the HDPE, with wings extending out each side or something, you're also strong enough to muscle your way up top whenever you'd like, I'd say.

During the autonomous period, I don't believe we'll see terribly many robots that can line up with the ramp, center themselves, extend wings *and* plant. There's a bit too much that can happen there to make it go all wrong.

With that said, I'd argue that assuming a ramp-dominating robot automatically gains possession of the 29 bins that sit atop the ramp is very, very flawed thinking.

I like this game. There's no single strategy or robot type that is utterly immune to any other combination of strategies and robot types. You can't design a machine that wins this game. You have to design a strategy that wins.

Any one that can interrupt your game plan is a good bot... king of the hill or just hill blocker have the potential to mess up anyone and everyones plans for stacking and getting alot of bins to the right places... the big counter toward theses massive threats is your tiny short under-bar bots.... with some speed and lot of agility those guys have good chance to be favorite among the teams

there nothing flawed about it.. when you think king of the hill you think planted there... but i think massive road block and time wasting annoyence...even tho there jobs to stay on top king of the hill bots will effect the game way more the can be imagined... just cuz there not moving doesnt mean there not playing

There is a possibility for everything Cory. Personally I know very little of what my team (TJ) is personally doing because of the distance I am apart from them. However, from other team members of different teams in the NH region I have heard of such arms and may at first it doesn't sound feasible but give it four weeks and you will find it quite easily done.

There is more than the HDPE. We have a design that anchors the robot and is hard to remove by hand.

How can you do anything witha box, a stack, or another robot if YOUR robot is invisible.

We have are robot hitting the top of the ramp in 4 seconds. we can knock down 4 of the 7 bin stacks. if your robot can not go under the bar you will have a hard time getting by. our robot will be stopped on the top edge of the ramp sideways. so if you can not push your way by you will be stuck on our side of the field.

we will be taking up 3 feet of the 12 foot ramp. if you do not know where we are going to be it will be hard to get by because being sideways we have very good traction on the ramp.


The best way to defend the top of the ramp is being on the side of the ramp.

if a robot does get to the top of the ramp faster and locks down beware of the power of the other robots. about 10% of the robots out there will have pure power. and they put everything into having power. so I hope you uses steel becuase anything else will bend.

You defend the ramp- ok- you get 25 lousy points... happy?

Remember that if you swoop around and block the ramp, your opponents' robots will be stuck onyour yes, your side of the ramp. Your partner will also be stuck on the opponents' side of the rampp. (assuming you went up the ramp first)

Thus, if your opponents cannot go under the bar, they'll make sure you get zero points from stacking. Remember visibility will be a problem, so they'll go crazy in the zone. If your teammate similarly can't go under, you're out of luck... You can never win with this strategy- the playoffs will bring strong, fast robots which can easily transport crates over the bar, as well as push you around..

they could take all the crates they want that will give you 29 points

two robot on top gives 50 points if you think you can stack from our side to your side go ahead and try.

I am just saying controlling who goes over and who doesn't will win the game at the end.

OK let me get this straight if I'm on the top of the ramp with 25 "lousy" points. The opponents bots can't low ride and knock all(hard to do because of visabilty) the crates out of the zone. My alliance partner forgot to plug in the battery and is dead. So your human player stacks are undisturbed. You get 4 stack * 4 on the floor = 16. I get 25 plus whatever you miss. My 25 "lousy" points WIN.

Since finals will be all about low-riding thsi won't happen but you gave me the scenario AngryDaisy. It could happen in Qualifying, but so could 4 ramp-doms.

As for finals there will probobly be the combo of Ramp-Dom and Stacker. So whoever gets there first and knocks over the crates will win.

I will say it one last time. How can you do anything if your robot is invisible?