Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto
You're a smart guy Wil. Well put.
The disparity is huge. I am not a fan.
-Mike
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The disparity is certainly huge. I'd like to say it's not as bad as 2011, but if you remove litter points, 2015 scores are looking similar to 2011 scores. I didn't think we'd see a game with such a huge disparity between teams like 2011 had in this era of Robot in 3 days and Build Blitz. I think the GDC's design of the chute door (making totes come in every possible configuration other than right side up) is a major contributor to this disparity. Robot in 3 days did a great job of coming up with nice, simple manipulator and lift ideas, but teams had to figure out how to use it with the chute that doesn't want to behave nicely.
It is very difficult to build a working manipulator for this game without having the space and resources to replicate the landfill setup (expensive considering the cost of game pieces] and/or chute (it has to behave like the proper chute too).
In 2012, you were given foam basketballs, and they roll around while your robot picks them up and shoots them. In 2013, you load your frisbees into your robot and shoot them into a goal. In 2014, you just gather a large exercise ball and launch it. None of these games had game pieces lying in a specific orientation, and they were not immoveable without an active roller intake. 2013 has elements like the human player station, but the game pieces were small and simple enough to build your robot around the human player station. This year's game is a great engineering and design challenge....for veteran teams who can handle it.