Re: Physical matches
 

Posted by Jeff Burch.

Engineer on team #45, TechnoKats, from Kokomo High School and Delphi Delco Electronics Systems.

Posted on 7/13/99 6:33 PM MST


In Reply to: Physical matches posted by Adam Hathaway on 7/12/99 2:25 PM MST:



I like the physical play too, but I think we'd be going down the wrong path if we made all forms of tipping legal. I realize this may sound strange coming from a team that had a punching arm and no basket, but taken to it's logical extremes unlimited tipping would actually become boring.

First of all the threat of tipping would force teams to make low-riding, slow moving robots and would penalize agile, quick moving ones. The rules of the game would also have to be constrained to not force teams into overly vulnerable positions.

Imagine if there had been unlimited tipping with this year's rules. It would have been the obvious defensive measure that everyone would have built into their robot. No robot could have survived lifting floppies without big clumsy stabilizers. I can picture match after match where the floppy gathering robots hide in their corner at the start while the tipping robots try to topple each other or get to the opponent's floppy gatherer. The best toppler tips over the two opponents and then their alliance partner comes out to rack up points with no opposition.

The limit on tipping allows teams to implement a wider range of strategies and varied robot designs. You get the quick movers and crab style drive system. You get robots like ours with no basket - we could never have done that if the rules allowed the two opponents to gang up on and tip over our alliance partner. It could be that by the time we got to Rumble we'd seen the game enough to start getting bored and tipping seemed necessary for excitement, but try to remember the first regionals. This is how the virgin spectators at Rumble saw the game and the ones I spoke to were absolutely on the edge of their seats the entire time.

You can say that it's all the checking (hitting) in Hockey that makes it exciting, but even in Hockey there are lots of limits. You can't crack your stick across someone's back (cross-checking), you can't check someone if they don't have the puck (interference), you can't drive them into the boards unless they're next to the boards (boarding), you can't ... you get the picture. Obviously the game's no fun to watch if all the players are laying on the ice.

So my vote - keep the limited tipping. If a team runs away you shouldn't be able to chase them down and tip them over. If a team is engaging you or fighting for position you have the right to fight back and if toppling results that's OK. There'll be plenty of excitement with all the wild strategies and robot designs that the teams think up.

Jeff Burch
Team 45 - TechnoKats

Re: Physical matches
 

Posted by Dave Leenhouts.

Engineer on team #176, Aces High, from Windsor Locks High School & Suffield High School and Hamilton Standard.

Posted on 7/21/99 6:03 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: Physical matches posted by Jeff Burch on 7/13/99 6:33 PM MST:



I like aggresive physical robot interaction as well. It does make for a more interesting spectator experience, especially for people who just come in off the street. The only thing is . . . once the tipping rules are set in the rules book they should be adhered too at every event. To change the rules or adjust the refereeing biases the outcome of the competition. For example, if tipping were not allowed, the robots would not be designed to tip other robots, some might have arms, others might not. Then if tipping was subsequently allowed, robots with arms would be favored since they could more easily tip other robots.

Dave