Re: cap high or fast
 

Its really tough to say.

They kind of need each other. If you can go high, thats good but it means nothing if you cant get the volume of tetras needed to even have to go high. If you're fast, thats good but if you can't get high enough, you have to stop after only a few tetras.

If I could only choose one, fast seems better to me. At least once you hit max height you can defend or something.

Both would be the real way to go. I dont have video to back it up, but I do have the classic pic of us and 229 stacking. Both of us are fast and high cappers (utilizing the same shuttle and fourbar), as this goal was stacked by 229 and 217 back and fourth

Re: cap high or fast
 

I said this before I went to the BAE Systems regional. After seeing that event and competing in that event I saw robots that could cap high and other robots that could cap fast and a few that could do both. I found that my team can cap either fast or high but not both in one match, for the most part we capped the back row in less than 45 secs each match, but were able to put a 5th tetra on the center goal. It isn't that important to be able to do both just do one well and your robot can be successful.

Re: cap high or fast
 

From what I saw at BAE being able to cap quickly and reliably on many goals was much more important than taking the last 30 sec. of a match trying to put the 6th tetra on the center goal.

Re: cap high or fast
 

I would second this observation. At the Sacramento Regional passive end effectors(tetra grabbers) won out over grippers or powered grabbers. Time to locate top of tetra, pick up and maneuver to goal highly favored aim and drive systems vs. locate, grasp and then capping systems. Team 692 had a nice pneumatic gripper but getting it located in three dimensions across the field was too much time. The team ended up not using the arm and mostly defending in the semi's. Next year.....

Re: cap high or fast
 

i think it is not only important to stack fast, but also consistently each match. strategy is also important, so no matter what the strategy is, doing your job during each match should be first on the list. personally, i think stacking fast is better because more goals can be covered. but the high goal can also be the difference between winning and losing because the center goal can be used to connect a lot of rows.

Re: cap high or fast
 

I'd rather cap fast. You might need to get a tetra down fast to win the match late and high stacks can fall off the goal.

Re: cap high or fast
 

I'm gonna have to go with fast. if you can cap high, but its slow, its going to matter because another robot is just going to come and push you out of the way. Also, I dont have a video, but check out the pic of 217 and 229 at FLR and you can decide for yourself if they we capping high and fast.

Re: cap high or fast
 

After watching the matches unfold at FLR, and watching the finals from VCU i would say that capping fast or capping high have nothing to do with it. yes it is good to be able to go high, and yes it is good to be able to do it fast, but the most important thing is accuracy. if you can cap really fast, but they aren't all stacked right, then you don't get the points. i think the average amount of tetra's on a goal at FLR was aout 5 or 6, that was in a good match, normally it was only 2 or 3. SO as long as you can cap, as far as i've seen, your going to do a decent job.

Re: cap high or fast
 

Going along with what Tim Delles said, I also think its important to have an arm that doesnt require insane amounts of precision to pick up and cap a tetra. Many arms Ive seen require a lot of circumstances to be optimal, and require too much precision to even get the tetra. Our arm (along with 229s) is just a 1" wide stick, which is incredibly easy to put into the opening of a tetra. This makes us both fast accurate cappers.

Re: cap high or fast
 

The faster you stack, the higher you must go.....so of course you would want to stack fast FIRST, but stacking high would help you SECOND

Re: cap high or fast
 

I am going with FAST capping. The more you can get out and stack for a chance at tic-tac-toe the better th e scores will be. Also a low end gear to be able to push around other robots. Or hold your own if you get pushed.

We stack pretty fast:
Video Here 1501-capping

Re: cap high or fast
 

chako brings up a good point... since its obviously more points to play tic-tac-toe than to just stack on the same goals over and over, then capping fast is easily more important, until the center goal gets like 4 tetra's on it and you need to put one over it.

Re: cap high or fast
 

What was the highest stack you have seen on the middle goal during competition?

Re: cap high or fast
 

six or so. Im sure there has been higher.

Re: cap high or fast
 

Just an observation - capping smart beats both fast and high