[MGoelz]

Originally Posted by Taylor

I disagree - with the robot off, if we hand-push the robot on linoleum, the wheels don't turn the transmission gears. If we hand-push the robot on carpet, the sprockets turn. The wheels are grippier on carpet than they are on regolith.

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

Well yes, I realize they are grippier on carpet, but from what I've heard about people testing their robots in both situations, its not as much of a difference as people are speculating.

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

The wheels will have more grip on the carpet, but as soon as you leave the carpet and re-enter the regolith the wheels will lose all traction, due to the speed they are spinning at and slip back into the carpet. So most likely it will work to pin with two bots, and in the worst case scenario the pinned bot will jerk around.

First of all, I have to point out that the likelihood of your robot being entirely on carpet is rather slim. I think that was something that FIRST did to a) give the ability for some teams to just drive around the edges (but that would make your trailer an open target) and b) to help if you run into a wall to provide that tiny bit more traction to propel you back onto the regolith.

Originally Posted by thefro526

I think more often than not you're going to want to keep your alliance's robots moving. This would pretty much make the strategy of having 2 robots pin one down pretty ineffective.

I completely agree. Movement will be key. If you're not moving, your trailer is much more vulnerable. Imagine if all the robots are on one half of the field. A PS that would throw from the side where no robots are would have a small chance of scoring if you move, because by the time the ball gets there, your robot could be gone.

Originally Posted by Redskins1666

I really dislike this years game, because of it's human player abilities. Where is the talent in your robot when a human is shooting the ball? I would like to see the ratio for robot to human scoring and see how much more the human will score. This is more of a athletic game with a moving robot.

I would not say that this is an athletic game with just moving robots. It's all a matter of opinion, but I would like to point out that FIRST is about robots. They wouldn't create a game where the robots weren't important. I think the idea is to see that although the PS is important, robot scoring can be just as, if not, more effective. A PS has limited opportunities to score, and has the time factor of having to bend down, pick up a ball and throw it. Throwing more than one at once would be highly inaccurate (provided the trailer isn't next to the fueling station) and therefore they must throw one at a time. This goes along with:

Originally Posted by MattB703

Here is another thought;

It will be much easier to stop a robot for a few seconds somewhere on the field than it will be to push a robot into a position to be loaded by your payload specialist. This is a large part of why I have been an advocate for the "mass dump" scoring strategy. My thought is; 1. fill a robot with a quantity of balls. 2. chase an opponent's trailer till he runs into something or your partner "sets a pick". 3. dump your whole load while the opponent bot struggles to extricate itself. 4. go get more balls and repeat

Mass scoring robots will greatly sway the game. In my opinion, this is probably the most efficient way to score. When you have a trailer in front of you, and you have any number of balls in possession, you want to get rid of them as quickly as possible, before you lose that opportunity to score.

Teamwork is important in every game, but so is self-reliance. If your alliance partners get in a bind, you don't want to be helpless. You have to know that, should that happen, you can still be an effective player for your alliance and do something to help bring up the score. It's always to good to plan for the worst case scenario.