The Sleeper Robots
 

Ok, The 1st week is over. I have been seeing alot of post about the top robots out there. What about the sleeper robots, Those robots that are solid as a rock at doing what they do. Those robots that when it somes down to you are happy that you had themn as an allaince partner. That robot that you pick as your 3rd alliance partner. The first pick is the easiest, Its that second pick, the pick where you want a good strong robot to be next to you. Well people who are they let us know?

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

At the FLR Regional it was team 772 a great capper and in the finals played it nothing but smart. Great at defense also.

Watch for them at Toronto and Waterloo.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Some great teams from BAE that flew under the radar a bit were 1027, 138, and 58. All of these teams were very effective scorers and also tough. I really enjoyed watching them play.

Rob

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

I watched Peach Tree and was pretty impressed with a few teams that used scissor lifts I didnt think they would be used that much this year but a few teams pulled it off.

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[quote=Jverdon]I watched Palmetto ...QUOTE]

just wonderin... but did you mean Peachtree cuz Palmetto hasnt happened yet... if so, which scissor lifts were you most impressed with (if you remember).

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

[quote=team1611]
Woops yea i ment Peachtree lol. I really doent remeber the numbers but there were two if i recall that were in the finals that were really both solid robots that were great at capping.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

yeah... there were actually more scissor lifts at Peachtree than our team expected. we had one of the scissor lifts. it was up on a platform. we made it to the semifinals. team 1597 had a good lift. i think they were a replacement for team 832. i cant remember if they made it to the semifinals or finals. team 462, "the rams" were very impressive. they had a flipping mechanism on top of a scissor lift. and there were several other scissor lifts that i dont really remember right now.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Yea i remember them they usually have a pretty good sleeper robot. They are one of the other mississippi other that are team. They had a good robot last year too.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

definitely 1567, 1559, 772 from FLR. 1567 had a very elegant capping mechanism. 1559 had a flawless auton and 772 was just awesome all around.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

I just have to back up what Chris and some others had to say. 772 was a great 3rd round pick, so wasn't 304 and 639 at our regional.

304 was a great defensive robot.

639 and 772 were great cappers and very reliable too.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Team 211 MAK will be a major player in Phili.
Team 1511 made their share of rookie mistakes but they have two more regionals to get more experience that will only help them and by the time they get to Altlanta (they won a rookie all-star so they're going) they will not be rookies anymore and they will be a team to be reckoned with.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Do you mean 340? There was no team 304 at the Finger Lakes Regional.

Matt

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

I was actually more impressed with the other team that had a flipping mechanism (1648). They were one of the few teams able to stack multiple tetras (not to mention the fact that they usually stacked 3 at a time). Somewhere along the day a team figured out that the only way to beat them would be to play defensively...From that point on that team was never able to hold on to any tetras...

They made it to Finals at Peachtree, but their alliance lost. They put up some really good fights, but in each match of the finals the opposing alliance always had a bot playing specifically against 1648's robot.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

yeah good catch.. sry about that type-o

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that is true... team 1648 was a favorite of mine. especially when capping three (always a crowd favorite too). and once again, i have to give props to felix, the programmer from 1648 that helped us out. i also noticed the defensive strategies. our team actually played the same strategy against them. we saw one team pull all three tetras off of them at once. we actually got our teammate to do the same thing in our match.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

That sounds exactly like my team, Team 122. We were the second pick of the winning seed at the VCU Regional. From what I've heard ;) we are a very efficient stacking team. We average about 4-5 tetras a game, 6 if we are really slick about it. (Happened only in one game tho.) I am very happy that Team 401 had faith in us and chose us, along with 435, to bring into the finals.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Ok, another week of competion who were the sleeper teams this week?

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

I would watch out for team 250. We were 6-6 at regionals but we found our strengths late. We play whatever strategy is necessary. Capping- we do 3 to 4 tetras per match. Defense- we held the martians to 1 tetra in a match and the thunderchickens to zero in another match. Powerful drivetrain. Reliable autonomous program to knock down a tetra. We can be your best friend and we can be the reason you're out of the tournament. We canot cap fast but we defend extremely well, and we can play some offense. Good all-around robot that will be overlooked because of the 16th place we got at regionals.

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Yeah, if we (team 1648) could get defensive alliances to prevent opponent from going to our back row we are very efficient. We hope to solve the stability problem before national ;)

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Hey, we didn't make it to the finals, but we had some awsome partners, team 61 and 1242 were good for an alliance with us. Also from the UCF regional there was 1402 which was great all around - they blasted across the field and carried stacks of 3 - 4 tetras and capped the small goals with those stacks! Good job to those guys, and props to 845, cutting edge, they had an awsum arm with a claw machine grabber, soo nice. Lol, props to all teams at UCF, all were good! Check out the videos at www.soap108.com, I wouldnt mind knowing what everyone thinks of our bot, its 1065 Tatsu. Bye all and great designs!

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

When I think of the 2nd pick, I think of defensive help. That's why team 808 was a great sleeper pick for our alliance. They can stack too, but with 869 as our first pick (first overall) so we already had two of the best stackers at Pitt.

They take pride in their excellent defensive ability. What sets them apart from most is they are smart defenders, avoiding penalties and always engaging other bots with what I consider "normal game play interaction". They also "have your back", ready to set a screen for any opposing robot that is interfering with you. Thanks to them our opposing alliances had scores way below their ability and we were free to put up big scores. Our alliance was so strong that when we go stuck for most of a quarterfinal match, 869 and 808 won it without us, overcoming a 10 point penalty my team had committed in all of the confusion. With an alliance like that, we cruised into the finals.

808 will be going to the Buckeye Regional so watch for them there.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

At the UTC Regional, our last pick was team 1071. They had to be, without a doubt, one of the smartest defensive (also a great offensive robot if we needed them to be) teams out there. In the finals, they managed to prevent team 230 from scoring about 5 tetras. Not just by getting in their way, but picking them off their robot while trying to cap. Team 230 had to be one of the top 5 scorers at the comp, usually 5-6 each match. I would watch out for them at Nationals, or if they are at any other regionals.

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Easy...

Pittsburgh's sleeper was Regional Champs 1708:

- Rookie Team
- Robot had no arm
- Robot was no more than a foot tall

But when they were your alliance partner, you absolutely could count on them to get control of your home row (which they did basically every single match) and hold it right till the end.

As the coach for Team 188, I didn't have time to scout all the teams, and see all the matches. I depended heavily on student scouts to develop strategies for every match depending on who were playing with/against. The first time we were teamed up with 1708, my strategy head came up to me and said: "Don't worry about the home row, get 1708 to take care of it - go out to the middle row right off the bat and apply pressure there."

I thought he was crazy, but my strategy head had NEVER given be bad information before.

We went out there, and sure enough, 1708 took control of our home row, and held it right to the end, even having enough time and space to cross the field and play defense on the other alliance.

-SlimBoJones...

Re: The Sleeper Robots
 

Agreed 1708. I talked with some of their students, and improvements are in the works for Nationals to make them an ever stronger competitor. Watch for them.
-wayne