Quote:
Originally Posted by Wing
I'm not so sure about this one. Last year had lower scores across the board I believe, and the EWCP blog says that last year's scores median score was dismally low. This year, with allt he resources out there, it seems like every team is able to score points, and as a result, we see less zero point scores and higher scores in general.
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This is the first year in 10 years of FRC that my internal estimate of robot scoring ability was less than than what we actually saw on the field. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.
Frisbees are the most consistent flying gamepiece we've ever had. The foam basketballs of 2006 and 2012 were just not very uniform, and even with an extremely rigid structure, close shots, squish-o-meters, and closed loop controls you would still miss. They were also less dense, meaning aerodynamic forces were a less negligible part of the force balance. Drag is not a fun thing to deal with for small squishy objects with varying surface characteristics at low speed. On the otherhand, it is dang near impossible to miss a frisbee shot! Even going for the comparatively small 3 point goal, teams didn't miss much. Frisbees are dense and consistent.
Frisbees also behave alarmingly well when left to their own devices (unless you are 67 at the MSC). It has long been a personal rule that you always keep power on the gamepiece, because it will break your heart if left to its own devices. Frisbees in a bucket "just worked", and this saved many teams from developing their own hopper.
I would love to know the number of Ri3D "clones" (understanding this definition can vary). I bet there are probably 100 robots that are pretty close, and several hundred more that used something from that video in developing their own solution.
There was also a significant amount of information sharing on CD, with people talking about their experiences with the Banebot wheels vs. pneumatic wheels, among other things. I don't remember as much manipulator specific information being shared in previous years.
I was surprised at the number of working 30 point climbers. They were relatively rare, but I had figured they would be closer to the rarity of suspensions in 2010.
I didn't anticipate the FCS actually working, but clearly the GDC did. (Or they got lucky with the 84" rule)
I think for once we thought frisbee pickup would be harder than it actually was. In ball games, it can be really hard to collect because you knock the balls away with your frame. Frisbees don't do this, they just stay put on the ground.
All in all, I was surprised that robots were better than I thought they would be. That is a very pleasant surprise.
