[ALIBI]

Hybrid, Hybrid, Hybrid. That term has certainly changed from last year. Bots that can consistantly score well in hybrid will go a long way. A prior post talked about removing a trackball during hybrid, what about a robot that can remove two trackballs in hybrid? You know you will see it happen. It is like any other year, certain bots will do well depending on the alliances they are with or against. The key to this year is controlled speed. I do not care if you are a lifter bot or some type of shooter for hurdling. You have to be stable and reasonably fast. Defense, well, chasing down trackballs that are being defensively pushed around will be difficult. A fast lifter/shooter bot that can possess the trackball quickly will do well. No matter how well you lift/shoot the trackball, you still have to get it off the floor. Placing is overated, unless you plan on staying put to guard your placed trackball, someone will come around and knock it down, remember, there is no protection while placing the trackball on the overpass. The benefit to placing is that you can do it on either overpass so that if you are stuck by the other teams overpass, you could place there. Otherwise, why not hurdle (protected) and zip over the finish line for almost the same points?

The best bot this year: Better than average hybrid, must be able to remove the trackball, must be able to hurdle quickly, must be able to retrieve the trackball off the floor quickly.