Well, I didn't see a whole lot today but I'll tell you what I did see. There were TONS of teams on the practice field. Some teams were testing autonomous, other teams were testing mechanism function. In the matches, there were never all four robots on the field. 980 had the best autonomous mode. The go and grab the ball off the mobile goal, and then hit the T-ball while still holding the big ball. It is lightning fast. There are maybe 5 teams who can get the T-ball in autonomous. Teams that park under the ball shoot and open a big hopper were having great trouble performing the function well. There were maybe around 8 teams who hung well. Some teams that hung took the whole match to do it. Other teams that hung came back down. There wasn't much engagement or fighting in practice rounds except for when 696 bullied around 69 to achieve something, I don't remember what. Everyone is very afraid of 968's 4 speed gearbox, but they are still working out a lot of things with the rest of their robot. Climbing the stair seems to be a big issue for all but a few teams. Teams who climb the small stairs are having much dificulty maneuvering. Several teams in the pits were putting together their whole robots today.
Overall, I didn't see all the matches but everything I did see looks less that exciting to say the least. The arena was not energized - everyone was bored and everything was quite dull I thought. I really hope the action starts coming tomorrow (696 graciously provides action on the field for any opponent willing to engage
). Hopefully not too many spectators were there today because I don't think they would have been impressed. The music was odd and barely audible; I'm hoping they forgot their playlist and will have it tomorrow, not that this is their playlist. Perhaps the low volume was for the better so we all don't lose our voices.
I'll post tomorrows findings and I encourage others to do the same. If someone else could write down the seeding from the end of tomorrow to post that would be great because I know I will be too busy.