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Originally Posted by Necroterra
First of all is the simply insane robots some teams have built. I realized more teams had realized the potential for adventurous designs so we would have more of these at Champs, but teams like 1987 and the other ConveyorBots, 1726, with their more-or-less pure stacker, 1212 with their double robot, Batman and Robin, Zenith and Zipline, 2840's robot, 1671's under-ramp... maybe this has always happened, but seeing 1212's robot at Arizona West was amazing to me, even though it was having trouble.
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It's true, you get some crazy looking awesomeness when you lift size restrictions. You also get something similar when you get teams climbing a 10-foot pyramid. These examples are hard to find for two main reasons: first, they're probably about as common as the really crazy ones this year (a couple conveyors, a couple powered tethers). Second, 2013 did screw up the scoring if this is what you're looking for; high climbs weren't weighted enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Necroterra
Second is it seems to me like the human players, at least through the weeks of regionals, are more interesting this year. 2014 has them catching and re-introducing balls, and 2013 has them inserting and throwing (for a few seconds) the frisbees. This year, the human players have to load totes, something that has some level of skill to make it smooth and consistent, load noodles into cans, again, something that can done slowly or quickly, and most challenging, they can throw noodles for a fairly significant number of points. At championships, the best noodle throwers will be targeting robot's paths or aim for a side of the landfill.
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This is probably an issue of deceptive simplicity. Uber-fast frisbee loading took technique and practice for both HPs and drivers. It was actually pretty cool to see the different speed demons that had really cool techniques. If you're thinking sports models, just because it's fast doesn't mean it's easy (usually means it isn't, actually). Also, 2012 was even bigger for that, if we go all the way back in a standard high school tenure. Throwing those balls through the opening to make them all the way across the field, with robots trying to score and block you on the near side? Not easy at all. It's also a good year for clutter if you like that, and the bridge balances could get quite crazy.
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Originally Posted by Necroterra
"BLUE ALLIANCE WINS" - Ok, so they won. Now what? They get to go to Championships and lose against teams I have never heard of? Uh...
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Maybe I just haven't been in high school recently enough, but this process seems quite familiar. District tournaments, regional tournaments, state championships... We do Worlds, which is maybe more baseball-y, but it's not like parents know every team in (at least the larger) states anyway.