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Unread 13-04-2012, 11:30
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Opinionated old goat
AKA: Martin Wilson
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Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Buford, GA
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Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional

Quote:
Originally Posted by mwilbur View Post
No problem! Ours was shot from the very top of the arena, so they have a good view of the field. We use the videos primarily to show the drive team their performance after a match so that we can discuss ways to improve. I found out on Friday that it was a lot farther up there than it appeared to be from the 5th or 6th row of the stands! After several huffing and puffing sessions to go pick up the memory card with match video on it, our video mentor took pity on me and started sending runners with the card. I was very grateful!!



The feeling is most definitely mutual! It was really great to see you guys again, and your robot was simply phenomenal!



The failed balance attempt was just one of those things. Things were rushed preparing for that match, but we knew that your team was an excellent match for us on the coopertition bridge. I was there when our drive teams exchanged notes regarding the balancing. Your team's approach to balancing was a little different than that which we had taken, but the logic was sound. You guys requested that once the bridge started to swing that we maintain position and let you make any of the necessary moves to steady the motion of the bridge. It wasn't until I got back up to the stands that I realized that this was going to be tough for us because we have our drive train motor controllers set to coast, not brake. This generally worked fine for the strategy of staying bumper to bumper on the way up, but doesn't work so well when you're trying to hold position on a moving bridge. When it came time to balance we got close, but our robot (somewhat predictably) moved causing the bridge to pivot more violently than expected. Our driver tried to correct twice, but overshot and drove off the bridge. We would have likely sustained no damage except that our "faceguard" snapped when we hit the floor and our shooter axle was bent. We had designed the shooter to make the axle easily replaceable and had a spare ready to go, so it wasn't really that big of a deal for us to replace it. In the end, we felt worse about the failed balance attempt than we did about any damage to our robot. Those are simply the risks that you take when you wish to play the game well! We're really happy that your robot sustained no damage in the incident as we are far more to blame for it than you guys were.

Best of luck to you at the Championship! We will likely have a small contingent there even though the team as a whole didn't qualify. We'll look you guys up and stop by to say hi!
Have you had a chance to post these videos yet? I would love to see them.

Thanks,
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