Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

1.Red Cards are extremely important to look out for and make sure teammates know the rules and how to not get them.
2.Minibots can change a game, end a game, and tie a game. In short their really important! Deployment needs to be on point every time.
3.Defense to me is useless if the robot is super hard to stop, Your more likely to get a penalty playing defense than actually stopping another team.
4.Hanging tubes fast and having an amazing human player is crucial to each other. A great human player can fuel a robot with enough ammo to hang two rows quick.
5. Its Strategy Stupid! un like last year there are multiple places to score in this game, communication, grabbing the right tubes,and strategically choosing where each team hangs and what they hang (so they don't collide and waste time) is really important.

I like this game its very interesting to me and all the neat arms, grippers, and minibots makes it very exciting and entertaining. I also wonder what weeks after will be like

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

Paul,
thanks for the breakdown.

I bet we'll see at CMP this year an alliance doing all 3 UT. With that and reliable minibots from every good alliance, it'll make for a great Einstein finals with every alliance scoring 100+ for both the winners/losers.
Then it'll come down to the minibot race itself. :)

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

Most probably, since every match was up on YouTube almost instantaneously. But I have no memory of what match it was ... maybe that has something to do with being smacked in the face. :rolleyes:

Of course. ::safety:: Although the tube caused my hard glasses to be pushed into my nose and eyebrows - without glasses I would have just been hit by a nice soft squishy tube.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

The double uber-tube by 148 was in the finals I think.

Are you sure, those tubes might have got some dirt on them, it would be bad to get dust in your eye because of a nice squishy tube.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

Dirt and dust and game pieces aside, I seriously would never consider being anywhere near the field without safety glasses. With up to an 84" wingspan, those robot arms can attack with little notice.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

Having three ubertubes in a match isn't something we'll need to wait until CMP to see -- indeed, it happened at the Granite State Regional in week one multiple times by the winning alliance of 175, 1519, and 176. What I was hoping to see was 6 ubertubes scored in one match; GSR came close with 5 ubertubes in Semifinal 2-2.

GSR Quarterfinal 4-1: http://www.youtube.com/user/FRCteam1.../6/6FR1aEnhcYA (3 ubertubes in auto by 1 alliance; note also the "ringer" thrown onto a tower!)

GSR Semifinal 2-2: http://www.youtube.com/user/FRCteam1.../3/drbPrGJlroI (5 ubertubes scored in autonomous)

GSR Final 1-1: http://www.youtube.com/user/FRCteam1.../2/1Bt4JM_FytE (3 ubertubes in auto by 1 alliance; this is also the highest combined score from Week One regionals - 117 to 82)

I anticipate that Week Two will probably feature a combined score of over 200 points from either the Florida Regional or the WPI Regional.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

I wonder how long it will be until the video is featured on youtube as its own feature? Last year, Dean Kamen was kicked at point blank range by a soccer ball from a 1519 kick that had enough oomph to have flown the length of the field. Team 1902, Exploding Bacon, put it up on youtube pretty soon afterwards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnE0j69_gYk

PS: Glad to hear that you're okay, Gary!

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

We've already seen a 3 Ubertube alliance in Week 1, multiple times.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

I am hoping to see one robot hang all three ubertubes by themselves at some point. A fast robot with a lightning quick lift and the ability to pick up and score from opposite ends of the robot would need to cover about 100 feet in 15 seconds (to the rack, to tube #2, to the rack, to tube #3, to the rack) in order to pull it off.

It would require optimization and precision at high speeds to a degree that is seldom seen in FRC, but secretly I am hoping that some enterprising team pulls it off :)

(469 and 1625...I'm looking at you!)

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

I'd like to see that ONLY if it's during an Elimination round, or the other alliance robots are not designed to hang tubes themselves.

During Qualifiers every robot should be doing or improving on what they do. I'd regret it if one team bullied the others into making a Qual into a showcase of a single robot. That's not what Quals are about...

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

If someone told me they had a three tube auto and they could sufficiently demonstrate that scoring at least two of the tubes was very guaranteed, I would gladly run no autonomous mode for that match.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

As long as that's your free choice.
Of course, your robot will be downgraded by most scouters for not scoring during autonomous and you'll drop on most pick lists in favor of the third robot on your alliance who did score...

P.S.
I'd suggest it be a team choice and the possible ramifications to their season of hard work be presented to them.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

I see wisdom here. :cool:

I could see how it would be difficult when you are trying for a top seed and another team wanted to try a maneuver that both of you agreed probably wouldn't work. Whether that be a failed autonomous, or spending 60 seconds at the feeder slot trying to load a tube and keeping that human player from feeding anybody else... There are gracious words to be used that make every alliance member feel valued, and sometimes there are minor sacrifices to be made. Inspire others first, win second.

Thanks Mark for the sage advice. I'll pass this along to my team before we compete this weekend.

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

The flip side of this is, if your autonomous isn't any more consistent than the hypothetical 3 tube auton...
Now you're the team who we know is more interested in showing off than in doing what is most beneficial for the alliance to help win the match.

People notice things like that. Scouts on 148 like team players, and I assume we're not the only ones.

-John

Re: Lessons learned for Week 2 Regionals?
 

Not really. If the other two robots simply drive forward a set distance and drop their tubes in front of them, the third "triple-scoring" robot would simply have to turn to pick them up.
I don't know that we'll see it at CMP, but offseasons? Not impossible.