Ideas for Defensive Bots
 

On my team, we've been playing around with ideas for defensive robots, and we have discovered that this game allows for all kinds.

Anyone have any really cool ideas for defensive robots?

Re: Ideas for Defensive Bots
 

We decided that a defensive bot was a risky idea because of the Key. When a robot is touching the Key, think of another 38" around the Key as the area that a penalty can occur. And if the robot is not strong enough, it can be pushed into a penalty like this.

The main idea we had for defense though, was to take any missed shots and feed them to the other side, and to prevent the robots from coming close to the baskets.

Re: Ideas for Defensive Bots
 

There seems to be quite a bit of animosity (usually by 3-digit or low-4-digit teams) towards anyone here who would even fathom building a defensive bot...and that's unfortunate. Not every team has the technical and/or financial resources to build a bot that can do it all. Despite our best efforts, we have a rather small team this year, few mentors, and quite a limited budget.

Last year, we worked up to the very last day with an overdesigned bot that was well beyond our technical/financial means. Not much fun for anyone involved, as the students had only a few hours of practice time. This year, our goal is to design a small, fast, and nimble defensive bot that can not only get loose balls over the barrier, but has a small enough footprint that might allow two other bots to share a bridge in the endgame.

Are we shooting low? Not really...because we realize that this competition, in the end, is for the students, and we're not going to spend our 6 weeks like we did last year sweating it out until the very end.

At any rate, we've done our share of analysis of both the game and the comments here, and we think there's a good possibility that a well-designed defensive bot does have a place in this year's competition.

Re: Ideas for Defensive Bots
 

I wouldn't say that building a defensive robot is bad thing. Having the ability to play defense is a great asset to have in a robot. One of the top items on my wish list for each robot is the ability to push and be nimble (i.e. no mecanums or omnis just wheels with traction). This way even when your manipulators fail you still have a top notch drivebase on the field that can stand its own. Nothing is worse than selling yourself short with a weak drivetrain IMHO. I personally love your concept: work at what you are capable of. I'd highly recommend that a simple concept you could focus on is collecting balls. Three balls will be hard to come by in this game with such few pieces. I would love to see a robot on an alliance who could focus on defense and collecting balls (both serving a defense stance of stealing balls from your opponents and delivering them to the offensive teams on your alliance). Planning on balancing on that ramp is also a great offensive strategy. I wouldn't say there is animosty against teams who plan on defense, but I do agree with Katie in this thread that no robot should be a box/defense robot. This isn't animosity. There are plenty of small things in this year's game a robot can do that will make a large impact! :)

Planning for defense is a relatively easy concept that I have seen many a team over complicate and spend too much time focusing on. FIRST has really trended away from games that allow big defensive strategies like pinning, large nets/blockades, impeding traffic, tipping, etc to put more emphasis on the game itself.

The simplest, most effective defensive strategy a team can use is a simple six wheel drive with plaction wheels from AM. Just using a drive base like that you are giving yourself a huge defensive edge in such a simple area as your drive base you can spend more time on manipulators for the bridge or ball collection. We used such a base in 2011 and spent a lot of time pushing powerhouse teams at our regional and at the Championship around the field.

Good luck this season!

Re: Ideas for Defensive Bots
 

We are a rookie team and the rules this year make it very hard to be a defensive bot. And i love defense. The best strategy we have come up with for defense has been low bumpers, high maneuverability, focus on blocking opponents intake and clear balls from the opponent zone.