what kind of robot will win?
 

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion on what type of robot will win the championship.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

most definitely it will have to be a combination. ive seen a lot of robots that can hang well, a lot that can herd well, and a lot that can cap well, but to win, im pretty sure the robot will have to be able to do at least more than one.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I'm also going to have to go with a combination. After seeing the finals at Midwest regional and seeing how well the combination teams worked, I think this is going to be the way to go. The ball collectors have gotten a lot better over the season and so have the human players. Add this with the capability of a good hanging robot and you have a winning combination. It is difficult to top 12 balls in a goal - capped - and a robot hanging.
Eric

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I think that a small ball bot with 2 good cappers and/or hangers will be the winning alliance.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I personally feel that the robot that will win the nationals is one that works well with its other alliance partners. and i think that the best alliance will include combination bots that compliment each other.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I feel it will be a well balanced team and not a specific skill. Remeber every strategy has a counter strategy and therefore can be beaten by a clever team. Also winning aliance will have the most reliable robots in most respects, i.e. auton always works and parts don't bend, brake or fail.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

Definately a strong auton. mode will be an asset. I think a bot with a combination hanger and capper will win it, if they are allied with a strong herder.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

The winning alliance will need to have completely duplicated capabilites. A strong defensive robot can shut down 1 robot, so the other robot will need to be able to pick up the slack.

I've always been a big fan of dynamic strategies. I think the championship finalist alliance from 2000 or the championship winning alliance from 2002 were the most dynamic, but I have a feeling that the winning alliances this year will take the meaning of a dynamic alliance to a new level.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

Just to add to these ideas, a good robot is nothing without good drivers. And a good team to fix the robot when stuff breaks. I think i should have added that somewhere.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

You are absolutly right a team can't win without level headed drivers who think their way out of situations and don't get flustered when something goes wrong.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I think that small balls will be extremely important in the playoffs. In 2 of the 3 regionals that I went to, a small ball bot became in the champion and in the other regional, a small ball bot was a finalist. I think that in the winning alliance, first of all, there will be a robot that can play good defense and can also hang. There should also be a capper that can probably hang and a small ball bot that might be able to hang as well. Good drivers will also have a very big impact in my opinion. A good driver could be the difference between the championship and a 1st round exit.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I Think the winning aliance will be a ball herder + capper with a secondary option to hang on the side after watching afew of the regionals i think that ball herding played a significantly bigger part. i dunno just my opinion but i noticed ball collecters with good Human players (i.e. Gale Force) did really well. with an alliance that could cap or unhang a team like that would be close to unbeatable.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I agree that a good drive team can make all of the difference. For example:
In 2001, we built 2 identical robots, a competition bot (The Bobcat) and a practice bot (Petunia). We went to an offseason competition and were allowed to enter both. Our primary drive team controled The Bobcat, and we let other team members take turns controling Petunia. The Bobcat won the competition, and Petunia finished in last place.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

pretty intresting i know from experiance a good driver makes all the differnce thats why our team decided not to cycle operators we get a good system down and you begin to get that "empethetic" link of some sort you can just get what the others operators want done.

Re: what kind of robot will win?
 

I think the great thing about this game is you don't know what kind of robot is going to win. An amazing herder can do just as well as a quick and powerful defensive hanger.

I'd definately say a combination would be the best, but if I had to choose one function, I'd say this game will be won by a small ball herder (which is obviously capped, hanging is a plus).