Support Robot Concept
 

lets say that a robot sits in its lane against the feeder station and is built in such a way that it can launch tubes across the field similar to track balls being launched in Overdrive.

The strategy is not to score but to make it very easy for your teammates too

in theory your entire aliance will spend the majority of the match inside a safe zome.

Prototype: Tip a tube any shape so that it is perpendicular to the feeder slot and then punt it with your foot. It can fly above other robots and land in your zone.

Note: not hitting poles might take some engineering but shouldnt be that big of an issue.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Considering most teams will probably have some sort of large appendage capable of going upwards, the support strategy you suggest may not work very well.

If you do happen to make a robot capable of flinging tubes with great accuracy across the field, it will only take a raised arm or lift to "stuff" the shots you are taking across the field.

-Brando

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

This is a neat idea.

Launching tubes that are 3 different shapes 54 feet across the field into your home zone consistently is a big challenge. There are a couple reasons why this would work as well as why it wouldn't.

Here's why it would work:
1. Because opponents aren't allowed in your loading station, your launches won't get blocked by opposing teams.
2. The area in which the tubes must land is pretty big (17' by 8' iirc). Allows for a significant margin of error in terms of flight trajectory, etc.

Here's why it won't work:
1. Opposing teams can raise their towers and sit in front of the opposing team's home zone knocking down any launched tubes.
2. Even though teams have the ability of extending outside of the frame perimeter this year, designing a device to hurl a lightweight tube 55 feet is no small task. The force required would be substantial.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

I like the idea of a robot that has an arm at exactly the height of the lane loader that goes from the lane, grabs a tube, then brings it to the midfield and "passes" it to a teammate. However, the rules currently prohibit robots taking tubes from other robots. :(

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Thought that rules would only apply for opponents. Like, if you pin your own teammate, there wouldn't be a penalty, right?

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

I can kick it the full length of the field and reach a height of approximately 15 feet. another proof of concept is that robots could throw the much larger and much heavier trackballs 7 feet in the air.

so one or two of there robots will have to block our zone, which would mean that they are not scoring which I think I would still be ok with

accommodating the different sized tubes wouldn't be that difficult.

yes there are some design challenges but I think they can be overcome.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Love the idea but i think i see 2 problems with it. I do not see the tubes making all the way across the field(maybe you can roll the round ones). The second is the pipe for the end game would get in the way. But more power to you. I would love to see it in action if you guys build it.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

The idea of a feeder robot is solid. Basically in it's simplest form, the feeder robot's job is to either gather tubes from the field or from its own human player and drop them in the alliances scoring safe zone. This allows your big scorers for nonstop scoring.

Now, the best way to do this IMO is literally hanging onto game pieces and moving super fast so that no matter what, the game piece will always be in the possession of your alliance.

Like this launching method (if it worked) it might be faster, but it's easily defended. Teams would recognize this and you would not be picked because of it. So I do think the feeding option is excellent, but launching tubes I don't think is the best way of going about it.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Sadly, no. I'm hoping it's an oversight that will be corrected in an Update.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

This is assuming that your scorers will be able to pick up off the ground. I think that's a pretty big assumption.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

It might be... but if you can't pick them up off the floor, you're stuck driving to the other side to get game pieces every single time. That's a pretty big handicap to have, considering past experiences of game pieces littering the floor.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

It may not be as easy to block, but it will still certainly be reasonable to block shots. If a team with a 10 foot arm is standing even at the end of the lane line, it will require a pretty decent arc to launch a tube over them.

-Brando

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

OK they block the lane with a 10 foot arm, the robot can still drive across the field to supply another team or move out of the way and shoot. Even still forcing a team that can score to block a team that can't is still worth it.

I am kind of surprised so many people are ruling this idea out...

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

The shooting concept is probably being ruled out because its quite a challenge to undertake. Can it be done? I'm sure it can, and probably will be this season, but it's still a large challenge, and risk, that many teams probably do not want to take.

The idea of bringing tubes across the field is perfectly legitimate, and I'm sure many teams will be able to do this quite successfully. However, many teams may have this functionality built in to their design just by having an arm capable of loading quickly and driving fast.

Unless theres a specialized mechanism, the idea of a support robot seems more like a strategy than a design concept.

-Brando

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Is there a distinct advantage to this more than just having the feeder throw the tubes over the wall instead of putting them through the slot?

I've heard credible reports of being able to reach half-field, and that's without much practice.

--Ryan

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

I'm not defending or advocating the decision to not have the ability to pick up off of the floor, but just pointing out it's not a feature to be taken for granted. If you're going to design your whole robot and strategy around having partners who can pick up off the floor, you better be sure that there are plenty of robots who are going to be able to acquire tubes on the floor.

Tubes are open targets for both alliances at half-field. They aren't if they're in the scoring area.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

Understood, I guess this was just me being skeptical that something as aerodynamically unstable and with as low relative inertial as the innertubes would be able to be aimed well enough to actually land and stay in the scoring zone with any reasonable reliability. Should probably keep my comments to myself until I (or someone else) actually attempts this, though.

--Ryan

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

now that is a very good point. but I do feel that teams will be able to pick up off of the floor. The 100% bumper rule makes this difficult though.

Re: Support Robot Concept
 

I will be shocked if the majority of robots are unable to pick up tubes from the floor, even with the 100% bumper and 60" cylinder rules.