Quote:
Originally Posted by WJF2011
This year's game, Breakaway, has about the same amount of diversity or even less with 4 types: kickers, shovers, loopers, and mainly-hangers.
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These categories describe types of robots, but if you look at the robots in any category the actual implementations are very different.
For example, look at robots which try to hang or otherwise score bonus points. I've seen many methods of this- at the Boston Regional, for example, team 1100 latched on to the platform of the tower and flipped themselves onto it, team 383 rolled themselves up the poles on the side, team 3280 used a tape measure hook, team 230 got on the bump, drove towards the tower, and then used a hook over the top bar to lift themselves, some teams used pneumatics and some just slowly climbed a steel rope, some teams latched on to a pole and flipped themselves up, etc. Then I've also heard of teams with ramps so an alliance partner can drive onto the platform, and other cool ideas beyond this. I've probably seen more than 10 distinct implementations of this "hanging" concept.
You can take this example with any other part of the robot- there are many distinct drive systems and ball scoring mechanisms on the robots. There are not many robots that are "the same", even though they may serve similar functions in the game (scoring game pieces, playing defense, hanging, etc.) If you'll be at the Championship this year, you should make some time to visit the pits and ask teams about everything hiding behind their bumpers. You'll be in for a pleasant surprise... plus you might make some new friends!