My first time at this most relevant competition.
Many of the best teams elevating Recycle Rush to a place where I hope we can grudgingly respect it.
The high scores were impressive. The average score was 203, The top half averaged 221 with a standard deviation of 3 noodles, or a six stack.
The top 16 were separated by a capped six stack with a standard deviation of 2 noodles.
The bottom half averaged 184 with a standard deviation of 15.
Dropping one RC could make a difference between being selecting or hoping to be selected.
Failing to make a coopertition stack just once could drop your final rank by 8 places!
Some of the better aspects of the game theory behind Recycle Rush became more apparent: (Not that these weren't present at the CMP)
- High Scores meant obstructed views.
You needed to get the left landfill cleared first.
Watching drive teams craning their necks was humorous.
They couldn't see the clock on the other side of the field either.
- Swampthing consistently had a stack almost ready to place after autonomous.
It never occurred to me that the highest autonomous score for an alliance was 66 points.
This is doable (Wavething?)
- The game required such focus as to not make any errors. It could sometimes be like watching a downhill ski race, golf, or gymnastics. At IRI, the game was quite unforgiving.
- There is an end game in Recycle Rush. 20 seconds left and you have to decide on another tote or two versus safely placing a stack. With the tight scores here, even an uncapped 6 stack made a difference in who went to the finals. If you weren't careful your Robot would knock down a stack or two on the congested field.
Slowly wending my way home.
Oh yeah, almost forgot.
Some Fieldside Videos
Five Qualifications, Two SemiFinals, Two Finals.