Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

If only we could see the robot XD, nice work though

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

We have our shooter completed and a working drivebase. Auto-mode is coming along. We still need to work on the pickup system and storage. That's still a TON to do before Dec 12...

The shooter can throw a ball ~9 ft right now. It's our 5th generation and the first one that works. I'll see if I can't post a pic/video or three after our practice tonight.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

2 out of 4 of ours look like a robot! It seems slower going than usual, but that's because they're taking the time to do quality work the first time and unit test each subsystem so there are fewer "integration" issues and less "speedy build" at the end. So the perceived slow going is probably further along that any other year. The 3rd bot has alot of plastic forming to get correct, but it should be good to go once some parts come in, and the 4th team ... well ... maybe they can play defense? They're still "designing" with only a drive train physically built ><. Seems like a harsh thing to say, but this late into build it's time to face some sort of reality.

An interesting thing to note is the height of the spin bar -- the bar is 10" off the ground, at least it is on the field we built. Anyone else notice that? It's also 10" away from the center-area wall in most spots, so spinning it requires going in the middle, violating a rule, or pushing the design limits. Interesting indeed.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

My potentially flawed interpretation of the rules says you can be in the center field structure all you want as long as you're not touching the High Goals or blocking points from being scored into them. There is no penalty for being in the low goal at all. There are wood blocks your robot has to climb to spin the bar a significant distance, though.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

You're correct in your interpretation of the rules, though I think that the middle is a death trap. If you can climb the wall, you can climb a ball. If you climb a ball at the wrong time and are too big ... your bot will hit the high goal an inur penalties. Though that's just my synopsis of it though, and it may play out completely different. Our strategies make the assumption that we'll never need to go into the middle and that if we may miss the middle we'll save the shot for the outside ... meaning we'll never miss and therefore never need to go into the middle to retrieve. At least that's the theory, though teams may very well incur 40pts of penalties just to make us miss 10+ balls.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

In my opinion you should be able to climb the goal and block points from being scored and then move around a little and get out, I don't think going over balls will be as big a problem as you anticipate because if you take it slow going in you should me the balls out of your way then be able to back up the way you came in, if need be, to get out

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

Blocking points (other than through robot collision / goal motion) is a penalty this year, so be careful with robot designs and height.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

What I mean is that if your inside the low goal you've drastically reduced the scoring area available. At competition this may come to the referees interpretation of the rules, in my opinion since some may consider it not in the spirit of FIRST that it will be changed soon after it's first tried.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?
 

The rules of a game should reflect the value of its creators. If this strategy is "not in the spirit" of the game, the rules should not allow it. Executing a legal strategy is never wrong.

Re: [FTC]: How far is everyone?