Well, I certainly wouldn't call your views on the predicted strength of certain designs to be cynical, although I do understand where you're coming from.
My opinion is that the simplest design is the best. Sure, you could have a fast firing catapult design, but if it's complex and potentially unreliable, I would definitely favor a simpler, more robust arm/elevator design. I believe that in this year's game, each design will have its strengths and weaknesses, and I don't really see a need to downplay any strategy or approach other teams come up with. Remember, things can quickly change during the season, and more often than not, your viewpoint on the whole subject can change drastically!
I'm not going to make any predictions yet, but I will say that your points are well reasoned. However, if I had to venture a guess as to this year's winning alliance, I believe that all robots will be fast and maneuverable. Swerve drive, I've seen, has quite a tremendous advantage over other robots, in that it makes ball manipulation incredibly simple after a successful hurdle, as well as dodging other robots who may deliberately block you from getting your trackball back (trust me, as a driver, picking up the ball after launching it over can easily take up a significant amount of your match time if you don't have a decent picker-upper). Also, I do see an advantage in catapult designs, in that they're
fast. However, I have noticed that after a ball is launched, it can react quite unpredictably and can take quite a long time to settle down afterwards.
I believe that a strong robot will be maneuverable, fast, and have a quick and reliable hurdling mechanism. Based purely on intuition, I would say that the winning alliance for this year's competition will consist of two strong, maneuverable shooters, along with a fast arm robot capable of running laps, recovering trackballs, and "defending" against opponents.
But who knows? I'm sure any FIRST veteran knows that one must expect the unexpected (our team knows that all too well, by the way
), I guess we'll just have to see how the rest of the season plays out!
