[dhitchco]

How important will it be to design a bot to pick-up loose balls? Ask yourself, how many loose balls will there be in a match? Loose balls come from the following:

1) They fall out of robots that have been pre-stored with (up to) 10 balls at the beginning of the match. This is not a likely source of loose balls even if a robot gets jostled.

2) They fall onto the field from failed shots at the upper 3-point goal. This is likely to be the biggest source of loose balls to be gobbled up

3) The fall onto the field in the process of your bot trying to push/dump them into the side goals. This also is a high-probability source for loose balls

4) The fall onto the field after being put into play by the three human players (either missing a side-goal shot or missing their own 'bot refill). Also a pretty high probability of happening.

5) They are put onto the field by the field judges after they have bounced/flown out of the field. This could be caused by any number of random events. My best guess is that at least 10 balls per match will get re-introduced to the field of play by the judges....

So, overall, I'll guess that any design which does NOT take into account the need to pick-up loose balls on the field will always have to make a LONG trip home to be refilled and/or will simply be missing out on the need to bve a "hunter/gatherer".....