[craigboez]

How about discussing the different drive base styles relative to a strategy? It would seem that what works well for a "goalie" robot may not work well for a "midfield" or "forward" robot.

For a goalie, an omni-drive may make the most sense. You'd never have to traverse a bump and could shuttle from side to side with ease, clearing out balls as they came into the zone. As a mid-fielder a more powerful system may be better. I have a feeling that in the mid-field zone there will be lots of contact and jockeying for position beneath the ball returns (almost like boxing out in basketball after a free throw). As a forward, you'll want high accuracy and agility, but probably also want the ability to return to the midfield zone and help out if necessary.

Sorry for all the sports references, but it seems like that is the kind of teamwork they're nudging us toward this year. Specializing at doing a portion of the tasks particularly well will likely lead to an alliance selection, and if all goes well your alliance will do a good job of putting together a team of goalie, midfielder, and forward (all of which will, I'd imagine, look fairly different from one another).

Thoughts?