[ThirteenOfTwo]

Given two robots, identical in all aspects but one--one of them can cross the bump and the bridge and the other one can only cross the bridge. Which robot is better? The one that can cross the bridge, obviously.

However!

Crossing the bump is a tricky engineering proposition, and not all teams have the time to figure out how to do it. So what you need to weigh is whether or not crossing the bump is important enough to merit your engineering time. For teams with a lot of resources, the answer is yes! For teams with few resources, the answer may be no.

So let's do some bump analysis.

Q1) Do you need to be able to go on the bridge to win?
A1) Yes.

Q2) Is the bump as important as the bridge?
A2) Maybe! Let's see.

Q3) How much is balancing the bridge worth?
A3) Balancing the bridge is worth ten points.

Q4) How much is crossing the bump worth?
A4) Crossing the bump is not directly worth any points. It is worth as many points as you can score in the time you save crossing the bump vs. the bridge.

Q5) How much time do you save crossing the bump versus the bridge?
A5) Probably no less than two seconds and no more than five seconds per crossing (one way).

Q6) How many times per match do you need to cross midfield?
A6) Run some simulations and figure it out! Our simulations told us that scoring is fastest when you maximize efficiency, which is done by minimizing travel time, which is done by not crossing midfield. This means that two out of three robots in an alliance should only have to cross midfield once per match at most. Your simulations may tell you something different.

Q7) What is A5 * A6?
A7) Our team thinks it's between zero and ten seconds.

Q8) How many points can you score in A7?
A8) Do the math yourself. Our team says no more than 9.

Q9) Is A8 points per match worth the cost of engineering your robot for the bump?
A10) You tell me.

We'd love to be able to cross the bump as an insurance policy in case our analysis was wrong, but our robot is not specifically designed to do it because we have limited engineering resources. It's a mechanism that we'll make if we have the time.