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#1
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Observations from West Michigan Regional
Posted by Ian Mackenzie at 03/12/2001 11:56 PM EST
Student on team #188, Woburn Robotics, from Woburn C.I.. Here are some of the things we noticed at the West Michigan regional (a few members of our team were there as spectators): 1) Near the end of the regional, teams learned to stick themselves under the bridge to prevent over-rotation and help another team to balance. No robot was ever damaged by doing so. 2) Many teams attempt too much in each match. There WILL be mess-ups in the majority of qualifications so complex plans usually do not work. 3) A lot of time was wasted by robots that blocked the ramp, either by falling on it or not being able to get over it / reset it. 4) Most scores in the qualification rounds were under 100 points. 5) It was extremely rare for it to be worthwile to waste a time multiplier for an extra big ball or robot in the end zone. 6) There were a lot of misjudged time cutoffs too early as well; for instance, cutting off at 25 seconds left when one of the robots was just a few seconds from making it into the end zone. 7) Almost no black balls were picked up off the field. 8) Good off-bridge balancers were very effective. 9) The bridge often came off its center pivot, making it extremely hard to balance or reset. 10) Most matches involved two robots going over the ramp at once. This involves some coordination but usually seemed to work well. 11) Robots should power off when they are not doing anything; there was at least one clear case of everything being done and the alliance missing a time multiplier out of simple forgetfulness. 12) Human players were often disorganized and did not coordinate their shots, leading to many misses. 13) Haste makes waste...many teams tried to do things too fast without enough time lining up (e.g. picking up big balls or lining up with ramp) and wasted a lot of time by having to re-align multiple times. 14) Many robots took a very long time simply to push the goal to the human player; many tried to hook on first and then pull it back, which wasted time. 15) The Anderson power connector fell out on a few robots; should be reinforced. 16) Many teams broke their lights. 17) Lack of traction was a major problem on many teams. 18) Very few times was a stretcher ever used, and no stretcher ever scored points; no team had enough torque/traction to push it over the ramp. 19) Very little greed was shown; it was very rare for any team to hurt the alliance in order to get their own big ball scoring. -Ian Mackenzie |
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#2
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No... it just takes too much time.
Posted by Andy Baker at 03/13/2001 12:47 AM EST
Engineer on team #45, TechnoKats, from Kokomo High School and Delphi Automotive Systems. In Reply to: Observations from West Michigan Regional Posted by Ian Mackenzie on 03/12/2001 11:56 PM EST: Ian - Good summary! One change though: There were probably teams there who can pull the stretcher (we can), but it just takes too long to get it to the other side... and it takes the time of two robots to do it. We were looking for a match to do it in, but it didn't work out. There was one match that we should've done it, but we got to the match WAY too late, and the other robots were setting up... it was too late to change the strategy. Andy B. |
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#3
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Re: No... it just takes too much time.
Posted by Jason Rudolph at 03/13/2001 1:54 AM EST
Coach on team #459, Rampage, from University of Florida/Eastside High School and Adaptive Equipment. In Reply to: No... it just takes too much time. Posted by Andy Baker on 03/13/2001 12:47 AM EST: WE pulled the stretcher with a robot in it successfully over the bridge and into the end zone. Then, unfortunately, a ball got trapped under the bridge and team 342 (#1 seed) could not get the ball out in time. So, it ended up being a major boost in the score.(This was at KSC) Jason |
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#4
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Re: Observations from West Michigan Regional
Posted by Wayne Doenges at 03/14/2001 7:14 AM EST
Engineer on team #535, G-Force, from Huntington North High School and UT Electronic Controls. In Reply to: Observations from West Michigan Regional Posted by Ian Mackenzie on 03/12/2001 11:56 PM EST: I agree with Ian on all points. I was there. I did notice one other thing though. A lot of teams sent out members to poll other teams as to the strengths and weaknesses of their robots. We found out it was much easier to watch the matches being played and see what each robot could do, than to go by the surveys. If you are unable to do a certain thing well, let the alliance know so they can work with you in the stategy session. If you say you can place a ball on top of the goal but are unable to so, you hurt the alliance and you get a low score. Don't let ego get in the way. It was not my intention to offend anyone. If I did, please accept my apology. |
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