Re: Curie 2009!
 

Where can I find a link to a live update of the Currie match results?

Thanks
Jeff

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I'm using FRC-spy (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/frcspy.php?) when I'm not watching Curie (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/robotics...-finals-2009/).

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I don't understand how a team can be ranked in the top 15 during qualification matches and wasn't picked by an alliance. This is ridiculous, don't teams scout?

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Not all the teams pick teams depending on their ranking. I am not sure what happened because I am not at Atlanta, but teams may need a robot that can deliver EC cell or can play defense. May be they chose to pick other teams over yours.

Again, I am not sure why you guys were not picked.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Scouting is what wins the Championship. I know that was true for us in 2005. We found a great under rated team in 503. Our scouts were amazed they were still around for our pick.

The field in Atlanta is incredibly deep. There are very many really good robots that are left on the sidelines at the start of Eliminations, a very good percentage of them won one or more Regionals.

There are also many factors besides rank that figure into picks. A really good offensive team might pick a good defender because they need somebody to watch their backs or neutralize and opponent. Defenders do not tend to be ranked as highly. Other teams might want a robot that can both score and defend or possibly a not so strong scorer that can keep the opposition on the run.

An important consideration is "are they used to playing at this level?". There is a reason hat you see certain teams in the Finals over and over. Experience counts for an awful lot. An experienced team can often be a bigger factor in the Finals than a team with a "better" robot, because they know what to do with what they have.

How teams "click" is also a big factor. I know that we have scratched teams off of our list because they were so busy working on their robot they would not even talk to our strategy team, even though we were locked into the top 8 and the other team was not. Their neighbors on the other hand, were happy to talk while they tweaked. Guess who got picked?

It is not always on field performance that makes the difference

CURIE FINALS
 

I think that the people watching the curie finals were treated to the best matches of the weekend. They were awesome, high scoring, and a lot of fun to watch!

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Rank Means little to nothing at the Championship once you're out of the top 8. Most teams will pick on teams that will compliment their strategy well rather than the team that is ranked the highest. Also, at the Championship it's hard to get noticed unless you're doing something spectacular and different. Most often then not there are a lot of teams that will meet a certain standard (10-12 balls per match, 3-4 hurdles, 4 tubes exc....) and they all look the same so they tend to blend in.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

That being said, I think 1983 put on a GREAT show this weekend, and were seriously overlooked. As well were the LigerBots, 3115, and a few others that I'm too tired to think of.

Scouters - what do you look for when you scout?

Anyone have any reasons why 2nd round picks seemed pretty bad this year?

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Has anybody heard??????

Looking to find out if anyone has heard if the CURIE video matches will be posted on the Blue Alliance website.... The other fields have video but nothing for Curie......

Thanks-
D

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I personally think that a lot of the 2nd round picks were very good! I am biased for one of those choices (thanks 346 and 1771) but all-in-all the 2nd picks did exactly what the alliance needed them for. Whether it was being able to score while the other alliance members were getting hammered or being able to hold off an incoming onslaught of balls from the opponent, I feel that the teams were picked to complement the other two teams' needs.

And as with every year, there are a lot of teams, which means a lot of decisions and trying to make an guess at what will serve them correctly. This consequently means that there will be teams left out of the elims. I mean there were 39 regional wins in our division alone, and with only 24 spots, there would be 15 regional wins unaccounted for in the elims AT LEAST! :ahh:

The only thing you can do at championships, is try to make your strengths well known and hope that they fit with other teams in the division.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Thank you for your kind compliments.
As you said... there were MANY great robots on the Curie field and we were very proud to play with and against many of them.

From my experience, what could have happened ... did happen.

I think that the alliances did a great job at picking the strong performers.
That was certainly evident in the GREAT matches played in the elimination rounds!! I think one of the most difficult things to do in all of FIRST is choosing partners for eliminations at the Championships...

Coming from so far away...we don't get a chance to see these legendary teams very often. We feel very fortunate to have been able to experience the World Championships for our first three years in existence and we tried very hard all weekend to help our alliances win in the qualifications rounds.

Congratulations to the Curie winners!! We cheered them on during the Einstein matches and were happy to see them make it to the finals.

We will be back...

Re: Curie 2009!
 

We recorded all of the matches. We'll cut them up and put them on blue alliance as soon as possible.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I finished cutting up the Curie matches this morning. They will be posted on TBA as soon as Greg gets a chance to move them over.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Thanks for the LINK 945.. and THANK YOU KEVIN for helping get the CURIE matches loaded on TBA.....

D

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Thank You Everyone in Curie! 329 had an amazing time! See you all next time.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

yes, your right i understand that teams picked players that compliment each other. i was the head scout last year for my team and i know the ins and out about it. one thing you forgot to mention is politics. it is sad to say but it plays a big roll in picking esp. for the older teams.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I hope I do not sound confrontational in saying this (and I apologise if I do), but I am not really sure where people get the impression that anything other than ability and compatibility come into play during alliance selections.

Personally, I think teams would be doing something wrong if they are not choosing the best team available. It does not make any sense to jeopordise one's chances by not doing so.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

Totally agree w/you.

In Galileo, at the end of qualifications, 111 seeded 1st. They built the best possible alliance by picking 67 with their first pick. With the combination of a massive dumper, a highly maneuverable quick dumper, dead-eye human players, and a smart autonomous strategy, we knew they'd be hard to beat. Their 3rd partner (971) solidified the alliance with good defense and additional dumping capability.

-Paul

Re: Curie 2009!
 

In response to your first request, our team definitely had some of the top bots mentioned here on our list. However, after choosing 188 we had to look at what would best compliment our team. We needed a proven empty cell carrier, a high scorer, and a top loaded robot. After previous experiences from regionals, we didn't want to be left without rocks because of a dry field and we needed somebody with options. 188 helped us in showing the data for the matches and in the end we chose 329 becaues of their HP load and average of about 10 rocks per match. We were happy with our decisions as I am sure many others were.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

I know many people have asked us what went into our picks on Curie as they seemed kind of random but they worked out really well for us.

First off I knew that we would be playing the Poofs and Buzz which meant that we'd need to out score and out drive them to win. Knowing this I set my sights on two offensive robots because I knew when push came to shove we could Shut Down the Poofs, or any other scoring threat.

Our First pick was 245, who I knew was doing so-so over the weekend but would play into the strategy I had devised perfectly. The AdamBots had a high capacity open toped robot that could be human loaded and was perfect for dumping on a pinned robot. I knew that during most of our matches we'd be trying to pin one of the opposing alliances offensive robots so 245 would always have their target. Also, the AdamBots would draw more defense than anyone else because everyone saw their robot when it was full.

For Our Second Pick, I chose 341. I had seen them play in Philly in Week 4 and saw that they were an invisible robot. Due to the nature of their game play they never drew much attention but still had the ability to put up huge numbers during a match. They had the tendency to pick away at an opponent 3 or 4 balls at a time rather than going for a big dump. This meant that for most of our matches they'd be free to drive around the field and score. Also, they were human loaded which helped a lot.

If you watch any of our Quarter-Final Matches you'll see exactly why I picked either of these two teams.

As for the rest of the second round picks, it seems like the higher alliances made weaker second picks. Maybe they were so comfortable with their own offensive abilities that they could pick a solely defensive robot? I know that was many peoples idea during regionals but, when you're in a field as deep as the Championship go offensive or go home. It's that simple.

Re: Curie 2009!
 

That was actually our opinion, at least partially. When we picked 247 we picked them primarily for their defensive abilities; their ability to score was just another plus. We felt so confident doing this because somehow 68 slipped all the way to us at 7th seed. When you pick defensively, you have to determine if the the pick will be able to stop more points on average than the next best offensive pick would score on average, and that's what we expected 247 to do.

You have to remember that you can only expect to have 60 moon rocks to work with, and if you plan on letting human players shoot at all you can reduce that to about 50. Our strategy included us preloading everything at the close fueling station in auton and having T3 load up at the far one. There would not have really been that much to make another scoring robot that beneficial; possibly a top loader for outpost loading, but another floor loader would only be able to pick up misses.