Re: High Scores
 

thank you, yes the highest score right now is 220, buckeye alliance 340,67 and 1126.

Re: High Scores
 

what is the record for number of small balls in the stationary goal? we got 21.

is 21 balls in the stationary goal with a cap a record just out of curiousity?

Re: High Scores
 

I believe in Canada during 639 and 33's first elimination match, 33 got 115pts of small balls in - that'd be 23 balls.

*I remember our robot had a leak and didn't hang - otherwise, what I said would be wrong and Buzz would've gotten 65 outta the 115 pts. But I'm pretty sure they got it all. Anyone got video?*

Re: High Scores
 

A very interesting question! The Buckeye's 220 (current high record?) was done with bots on the bar, and a ball split between the rolling and the static goals (both capped)... So I know it won't be in contention for THAT record.

What OTHER kinds of "records" can anyone come up with for this contest, to check?

How about...

- The most points SCORED during Autonomous Mode?

- The most balls COLLECTED during Autonomous Mode?

Anyone get the ENTIRE drop without spilling any?
It's also POSSIBLE (but VERY unlikely), to be GREATER than 18, and under WILD circumstances as high as 36... :D

- Keith

Re: High Scores
 

I believe there was a 210 at the Midwest regional

Re: High Scores
 

It isn't possible to score points in autonomous! Even if you hang during autonomous, you have to be hanging at the end of the match, so you haven't actually scored until you remain hanging at the end. And your human player can't put any small balls into the goals.


OH!!!!....I just realized that you can score in autonomous! By moving a mobile goal under the ball drop and having the balls drop in.

Re: High Scores
 

Ok, I know there are some awesome teams out there, so I'm curious, who else has hit 200 on multiple ocasions this season?

Re: High Scores
 

Exactly! Although I do now realize that the max theoretical score during autonomous will probably about 10 or so (or whatever is the capacity of the rolling goal that didn't bounce out from the momentum of the dropping balls). You can't be in two places at once, though you COULD drag it over the the OTHER drop by sec 45.

Unless of course someone had some SUPER way to collect the dump AND "conveyor" it into the static goal... But I haven't seen ANY robots this year that attempted THAT insanity. You need weight allowance for your bar method so why waste it on a conveyor method that could dump it to the floor. It's much better to INSURE the score with manual control than take ANY chance of that happening.

Scoring during autonomous is TOUGH to do. You'd have to hitch, uncap, drag it under, THEN either run over to the tee, or your PARTNER has to trigger the tee. This must be sequenced properly, and all in under 15 seconds. That takes a partner that can control WHEN they trigger. Did ANYONE manage to do that? If so, you probably have THAT record.
(That also brings up the undefined problem of either communicating between two random robots, or setting timers properly between two EXCELLENT performing autonomous modes...) Now we DID manage to get under, spread, and collect balls during autonomous, but we didn't score them... I'd have to go back and see if anyone remembers how many we collected.

I'm also curious though if ANY team managed to get a ball hopper under the OPPONENT'S chute during autonomous and collect THEIR ball drop, so I'll also propose these high score records:

- The most balls collected from OPPONENT'S drop during autonomous mode.

- The most collected from one drop (at any time).

- The most TOTAL balls DROP collected in one rolling goal (includes autonomous drop, AND opponent's at sec 45, or vice versa).

Did anyone get ALL 18 balls into their robot bin from the drop? Our robot (Team 1015) caught 13 balls twice at 45 sec so we'll toss that out there as the "score to beat". I *think* we also got one or two during autonomous (we weren't QUITE in position when it was triggered) but I'll have to verify if we got any at all.

Any takers on ANY of the other "high score" records I'm proposing, even if it's only ONE ball?

- Keith

Re: High Scores
 

How about the record for knocking the 10 point ball off successfully the highest percent of the time?

Re: High Scores
 

This is clearly not within the rules. Only a human player or gravity can score a small ball. No robot may assist small balls into the goal without penalty.


I believe we tied that in Philly I have to go to the tape to verify.


-Pete

Re: High Scores
 

Augh, You're right! (Slaps own head) I totally forgot about that...

I guess THAT record may then boil down to the "luck and good goal positioning" between all of the alliances that DID manage to uncap and stick a rolling goal under the dump and THEN trigger it.

So, who out there is in contention for "highest score made during autonomous mode"?

Cool! Anyone manage catch MORE than 13 balls from the drop?

FYI, we had everything NICELY "dialed in" during practice, and our two 13 catches came during our first two rounds on Friday. Perfect alignment every time. The ones not caught were due to "throat congestion bounce out", so we didn't think we could do much better than this with our current robot's geometry.

As an aside, a PAINFUL lesson: After our first two rounds, it stopped working! Turns out that without first discussing it with anyone else (or asking permission from the student lead programmer), an overzealous first year student "ASST Programmer" (NOT our lead student) decided to "tweak" that BEAUTIFULLY running "catcher" program without telling anyone, and WITHOUT FIRST BACKING UP the WORKING parameter set... <sigh>
We also found out later that the replacement code hadn't even been TESTED on the practice field. He didn't THINK about WHY we weren't catching more, he just thought "those numbers looked better to him"... <head in hands>

It took us a couple of rounds to REALIZE just WHY it stopped working, because who would DELIBERATELY tweak a working program??? Once he fessed up, THEN we discovered we didn't have a RECORD of the OLD parameters. We ended up spending the rest of that day trying to "rediscover the magic numbers" on the practice field... We think we have it NOW, but it messed up several of our middle rounds. Once working, we then never had another chance to try it on the field to duplicate that initial performance. NONE of our later partners could trigger the tee, and our OTHER autonomous programs were more valuable to the alliance.

Lessons learned:
1) INSIST your programming staff ALWAYS saves a FULL set of the programming in a new, separate directory BEFORE EVERY ROUND (disk is cheap). That way, you CAN "go back to Round N's behavior" later if it turns out to be better than your later tweaks...
2) ONLY the Lead Student Programmer is allowed to download, and is charged with insuring EVERYTHING is TESTED and approved, BEFORE it may go in.
3) NO ONE should EVER let untested code be loaded into the robot just before a round, for ANY reason. A known behavior (even NOTHING) is MUCH better and SAFER than an unpredictable one.

Uh... to put it mildly, that programmer sure got an earful from the rest of the team... <grin> ("And the floggings shall continue until morale improves"... ;) )

Anyway... Back to the high scores.

Our current record is "13 caught at 45 seconds". Though we WERE positioned under it during autonomous, neither of our partners could trigger it for us on either of those two rounds, so we simply waited without moving. But it COULD have been for an autonomous catch... (The one time they DID trigger it for us was during round THREE, the round where to our shock the robot *first* wandered out of position... <sigh>)

So, who here can beat 13 balls caught in their hopper from the dump?

- Keith

Re: High Scores
 

I believe at Midwest that Team 93, with their giant green ball basket, was able to catch all 18 balls at least once. And if it wasn't all 18, it was minimum 17!

Re: High Scores
 

I believe Team 1241, Theory6, can. They were rookie all stars at GLR and the Canadian Super Regional... I saw their 140 (or was it 130) and 150 point matches in Canada... if they are under the drop, they catch nearly all of them.

Re: High Scores
 

I was at GLR, and saw them run. Their "throat net funnel" design looked cool, and was VERY effective. But they too had problems with bounce-out from the fast dump.

BTW, in operation 1241's machine reminded me a LOT of the egg from the movie "Alien", opening up. Creepy <shudder>, yet utterly fascinating to watch at the same time (our net box simply expanded at the lower edges, with netting wedges to fill the gaps). It's only problem was a vulnerability to the "apple in a pig's mouth / big ball stuff" move if they set up for the drop too soon. They were eating balls like mad all day Friday. But in the very first round on Saturday, another team dropped a big ball into their throat at second 42, and all the small balls bounced off. That caused the entire audience to jump to their feet in surprise, and really set a high excitement mood for the rest of the day. As one of only a few ball bin machines there, they were also SERIOUSLY harassed as a major threat by teams trying to push them, or seize them with their big ball arms and drag them away.

Cool machine, 1241! Can anyone from your team tell us how many max you DID manage to catch?

How about Team 93?

- Keith

Re: High Scores
 

If our robot positioned properly under the ball chute we average 14 - 18 everytime...given no pushing/shoving by other robots. At GLR we managed to catch 17 at one time and score all those 17 balls thanks to our human player :) At Canadian Regional not as much, probably 12 - 16 due to implications in our robot functions. Our highest score at Canadian Regional was 150 thanks to our alliance as well (srry can't rmbr who it was) and at Great Lakes I believe it was around 130.