Re: how to throw tubes
 

one feeder wont be able to throw like that anyway unless they are left handed. the other person might be able to pull off a side arm trow, but i think tossing over the top and letting it roll is a better solution. if your HP has enough skill i think circles and maybe squares will be thrown, triangles should be held.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

We have done tests, and we came to the conclusion that a vertical throw and letting it roll is the best solution in regards to throwing tubes. The circle rolls like a circle should role, the square can actually get to the far side of the field this way, and the triangle is too inconsistent to be thrown without the concern of having it go into the opponents feeder stations. A recommendation is to just put through the slot and have it land near the tower, but still within the feeder station boundaries.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Indeed, squares roll much better than you'd think a square could.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

The video of 118's human player seems to be throwing the tube between the line of the known Legal and ?? areas. What the rules say should be taken as written unless otherwise noted in a "spirit of the rule" clarifacation. Therefore while I'd rather side with the throw being legal, seeing as it takes the tube must use more space beyond the complete vertical "above the player station wall", the throws seen would be illegal at least in my eyes. I see this rule getting a week 1 clarifacation.

However, this being a thread about throwing tubes, the worst way to throw a tube is to "push it" forward. They need to be thrown, almost with a whipping action.

Also, the thought of tubes crashing into each other mid-flight from two opposite sides of the field sounds awesome.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

I am starting to think the same thing... ;)

Re: how to throw tubes
 

The technique that me and another person on my team have been practicing is throwing the tubes will having you back toward the wall, and jumping and throwing it behind your back. I could consistantly get the tube in our scoring zone, but i don't were going to see to many tubes scored by human players. Well see at the regionals...

Re: how to throw tubes
 

I agree its quite impressive; however from what I've seen almost every robot will have some sort of lifting mechanism that will prove to be quite the obstacle. And combined with the minibot poles, I think A LOT of tubes will be intercepted by a pole or robot.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Luckily your opinion is just what it is, an opinion. My opinion is that if you're not throwing tubes, you're not executing the optimal strategy for this game. You'll want to carefully consider it.

I'll even go as far as to say that by worlds, we'll see a class of human players that can toss the tubes clear across the field very consistently, and when the second pick of the alliance rolls around, having a HP with a shotgun arm will NEVER hurt.

- Sunny

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Agree. Remember Lunacy and the Super Cells? After a few matches and scouting the human players, you knew exactly where you needed to be if up against that team (eg. at the other end of the field with the trailer as far from the HP as possible!). A good human player can make a difference...a good arm and intelligent gameplay can make up for a team with a suboptimal robot.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

I point to Overdrive and a topic I made (This one) about the concept of Tempo. I believe that I need to expand it to be a much more universal theory of FRC gameplay, but once you get what I'm saying, it pretty much goes like this:

If you can score in 10 seconds, you will have a better chance to score more points than it takes someone to score in 15 seconds. Whatever it is that is able to cut down on the time you can grab a tube and score, will speed up your tempo and speed in effective scoring.

Someone will look at that and say "Well obviously, the faster you can get a tube on the pegs the more points you'll score." - but that isn't the point of tempo. Think of EVERY aspect of the game, from getting a tube, to aligning yourself with a tube, to gripping the tube, to lifting the tube, to scoring the tube to getting the next tube. Every part affects your tempo.

If you have a robot that can score as fast as anything, you will still be slower or about the same speed as a robot that has trouble getting on the peg so long as you get the tube from the human player and the other gets their tube from the middle of the field.

Tempo in every aspect, not just a fast robot.

If you can't pick up from the floor and can only get from the human player, you will need much faster drive train to make up for the slower parts of your tempo. Tempo from having to get the tube from a further location is slower or about equal to the tempo of retrieving a tube from the floor somewhere it was chucked. And if you can save time by getting the tube closer to your scoring area, the faster your scoring tempo will go.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

So far we've mainly used the tomahawk method partly because it worked great when we first tried it and partly because we have a low ceiling in our practice area (the school caff). We can't get the gym space between now and our first regional Trenton but after that we plan to revisit talks about the Frisbee method and try to get gym space to practice it.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Bit of a 'duh' moment here ... you rules junkies should brace yourselves...

If the tube thrower is right-handed and prefers to launch the tubes discus-style OVER the wall -- then put him/her on the LEFT side of the field. This way the tube will never be in question of going around the side of the wall or hitting the corner. (Just watch out if you're the driver next to the discus :ahh:).

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Problem with the left side is that you've got the net to deal with, er, avoid. If I really, really wanted to stretch a bit, I might also be able to make the case that going over the Driver's station is also a Penalty--see the above discussion, particularly the picture with the "gray area"--but I'm not going to try, as hitting the net and having the piece fall into the Driver's station where you can't get it should be penalty enough and then some.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

Lots of good stuff here, thanks. It's really hard to see how the HP for 118 throws their tubes, so what style of throw do you guys use? For us, our HP extends his arm upwards so that it clears the top of the AS, and throws it. He can get it 3/4 + of the way across the field, but that throwing style is awkward. Do you think that 118 can get the distance they can (including scoring a tube) because of how they throw, or because of the spin/force/whatever.

Re: how to throw tubes
 

I very much agree... Time saved is points earned.. And I'm pretty sure from what tubes that will be stolen from you, you will steal back from teams that really can't hold on the tube or other teams throwing also....