[Zach O]

Wait a moment! I think your missing hanging bots!

I think most designs are the same this year, because there wasn't a lot to do this year.

You had to score balls, and some teams wanted to elevate. Many teams just looked at scoring, and how they could do it the best. Generally, these are tunnel bots, but I have seen quite a few bump bots that score very well, even better then tunnel bots.

And then there were teams that wanted to be able to traverse the bump, because to them flexibility in position would be key to getting and scoring the balls. Some of these teams decided to go with a hanger, because it was extra points, so why not!

And then there were teams, like 469 and 2337, that completely gave up the bump and tunnel for their strategy. Both deflectors (469 obviously having it much more perfected), we (2337) decided to go where we thought the real points would be, and make a bot designed for hanging and suspending other bots. We've only gotten to suspend once, but I'd say our hanger is the most reliable hanger out there.

So, I agree, many bots look the same this year, but I think the game limited most of it. Many teams that wanted to go over the bumps/traverse the tunnels couldn't be 5 ft. tall, so many of them stayed low. Mostly everyone has a kicker/ball magnet, and there are a handful of people that can hang.