Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaf2909
Okay here is a break down of one way I was thinking: - One robot racing back and forth getting its own tubes and hanging them.
- One robot Stays in the scoring zone.
- Zebrabot race to its feeding station and run from the feeding station to mid field and passes to the robot staying in the scoring zone and back..so on Fetch pass, fetch pass ect.
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Zebra bot and scoring zone bot stay on the same side so that the bot racing back and forth can have a vertical peg row all to its self..
This is if the defense they are throwing at us is avoidable. |
Ok, I think this is the part that alot of people aren't getting and that many others have tried to make.
To anyone building a fetch bot:
A. How long does it take for you to get a tube from the feeding station to the robot waiting on you and back to the feeding station?
B. How long do you think it takes for a team to pick up that tube and place it on the rack and be prepared to pick up another tube?
C. If A>B then the strategy is somewhat wasteful because it has a team sitting there waiting for your robot to bring the next piece when they could be getting their own piece.
Lets say it takes 15 seconds for the average team to pick up the tube, place it, and go back down to pick up the next one. For a fetch bot to simply drive the length of the field and back(no time needed to pick up/release tube) it would have to drive 7.2 feet per second. This seems reasonable if there isn't any other robots in your way the entire trip. If you want to consider they won't be traveling in a straight line and will probably run into opposition along both ways, and that they have to slow down to grab the tube and slow down to drop the tube and the time to simply turn around, I think your talking more like 10 feet per second necessary even if they only drive 2/3 of the way. This is possible. But all of that is assumed 15 seconds to pick up the tube. What if they take less? They sit and wait. That isn't very productive, instead they could be getting their own tubes. That is why alot of the veterans aren't really opting for the idea of a fetcher as their sole means of getting tubes. Sure, having a robot that fetches and leaves the tube there for you to pick up when you get back with your own tube is somewhat helpful, but a robot that can score that tube on the bottom row is going to be far more of an asset because they can continue to get their own tubes and so could you. No need to pick up the same tube twice.
I'm not saying the idea of a fetcher is bad. In theory I like it, but I just don't see it being a viable contender unless your robot is going very fast. In fact, if you do manage getting it to go fast enough, build to dodge well and prepare for some serious collisions. I'd be surprised if a defense bot wouldn't be willing to "take one for the team".