[Iaquinto.Joe]

Originally Posted by Pendulum^-1

The OP asks an excellent question, and one which teams really should consider. That includes teams that want to execute full court aerial passes. Will that really be faster? Or would a well driven pass with a bit of top spin go pretty well too?

A big factor in this game will be to get a three assist bonus + goal as quickly as possible. Cycle, cycle, cycle. Chasing a bounding ball around the arena will be counterproductive to executing a fast cycle.

I'd go for the ground level for a "standardized height". The primary reason is simplicity. But other reasons come into play as well. For instance, a ball off the ground requires more energy to propel and then it has more energy to bound around when a robot is chasing it down.

Additionally, ground passes allow for greater precision when it comes to allowing unique robot/zone pairs to maximize assist points and insure a 30 pt bonus. With aerial passes, your team may have to move to catch the ball and travel into a zone that will not count for an assist. I'm imagining a robot passes from the white zone intending to meet you on the other side of the field in the white zone with their pass, but it goes awry and the ball lands in your scoring zone.