[ColleenShaver]

How many teams participated?
10 Teams (3 of students from 190, 7 others from other MA schools)

Anyone have more pictures of the robots?
There were not many photos being taken.. most teams were still constructing (some from virtually start to finish) their robots throughout the day.

What sort of shooting percentages did teams have?
Same as FIRST, some teams were better than others. Average number of balls in towards the end of the day was about 4-5. I'd put shooting percentage under 50% in most matches (true for the winning alliance)

If nobody hung successfully and it looks like only one team capped, what were the typical scores?
Typical score was 20-15. By the end of qualifiers they got a little higher. High score was 60 I believe. 50 was hit twice, once due to capping, once due to HP scoring only.

Do balls fall from the Chute into the mobile goal (assuming it is in place and has the 2X ball knocked off)? If so, how many out of 18 typically stayed in?
As far as I remember, no one got the mobile goal over with the ball off in time. Several got close but didn't get the red ball moved quick enough.

Some others things from the day that might be helpful:
- I believe there was only one time that both yellow balls were knocked off before 30 seconds, releasing the dump early. Very few times as well that the bonus balls ended up on the floor or scored.
- When there are a bunch of small balls against the driver station wall on the floor, it is very very hard for the drivers to see (much worse than the FRC game). Remind your stage team to look for them.
- Be careful of robots going into the HP Zone and HPs reaching onto the field to grab balls. Problem was equally, if not more prevelant than in the FRC game.
- Getting to the hanging bar has the same challenges of narrow passage or step up. The team that finally got to the bar (only occured once) took 3/4 of the match to get there. Then again, a hanging robot no doubt would have won every match. It's value vs. difficulty is definitely worth discussion.
- Lastly, strategy matters. The winning alliance had a visible game plan when they went out for matches and it paid off. Simple and smart can take you far.


Hope this is helpful. I had tons of fun working at this event and the games got pretty exciting in the elimination rounds. Especially with the big ball through, it takes practice and building game elements to really be successful, so practice!