Quad Quandary Strategies

[The_Wizard]

Who already knows what their robot's going to be and how they're going to use it thats willing to share?

[1902_Battery_SGT]

although i do not know what are team in going to to i have a strategy in mind. it would be for a robot to be able to pick up (maybe not fully) the two connected goals and carry those around while hording the smaller two into a side rail. then said robot would have control of all four goals making it darn near impossible to move.

[Jimmy Cao]

I'm not on a team, so I may have some of my facts wrong (as in, some rules misinterpreted).

If I were on a team, I would build a robot that just hordes up as many of the rings as possible, and then dumps them all at the end of the match (or can u just put the robot w/ the rings into that area at the end?). I guess there are various flaws to this, but It's just my 2 cents.

[Billfred]

Having run through the video a few times, I believe a winning alliance will need two kinds of robots: one fast ringer capable of filling up the paired goals' posts as fast as possible, and a not-necessarily-as-fast enforcer capable of maintaining goal control. (An enforcer could be tasked with other things, such as descoring, but I'd mainly have it focus on keeping those goals safe.)

Of course, every team in FTC should be asking the magic question: "What would Simbotics do?" (Yes, this is a direct rip of Professor Grady's wisdom--but I don't think the comparison is unfounded.)

[The_Wizard]

Does anybody know if its legal to make a robot that does nothing but eat enemy rings? If so, that would be a good strategy to use if the metagame is centered around offensive robots.

[fredliu168]

Originally Posted by The_Wizard

Does anybody know if its legal to make a robot that does nothing but eat enemy rings? If so, that would be a good strategy to use if the metagame is centered around offensive robots.

Its against gracious professsionalism, but I cannot find a rule against this. Either way, unless you could manipulate the goals as well, you would be completely reliant on your alliance partner.

Originally Posted by Billfred

Of course, every team in FTC should be asking the magic question: "What would Simbotics do?" (Yes, this is a direct rip of Professor Grady's wisdom--but I don't think the comparison is unfounded.)

ROFL, true dat. Borrowing from Andy Grady, this year simbotics will score all ringers in autonomous and spraypaint the other alliance's rings to their own color just to stack more points. Speaking of stacking, their robot will stack all 3 goals and place them on their alliance area. They probably already finished building their robot, so we should probably hurry a bit.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by fredliu168

Its against gracious professsionalism, but I cannot find a rule against this. Either way, unless you could manipulate the goals as well, you would be completely reliant on your alliance partner.

I dispute the allegations of un-GP behavior. If the game allows a given strategy (sucking up all the opposing rings), it is entirely within gracious professionalism for a team to make use of it.

Matter of fact, a strikingly similar strategy was seen on DaVinci in 2006 when 1148 employed a trap door on their robot to suck out an entire opposing auto feeder, removing that many scoring opportunities from the match for their opponents. With many robots shooting for just one source of balls, this was a devastating blow to a lot of teams. (I might add, for those relatively new to the party, that 1148 would win the whole show that year with Simbotics and Singapore SMART.)

It's no longer 2006, but the point remains: smart play within the rules is never against Gracious Professionalism. Heck, maybe you'll even score a few of those rings for your opponents (and given the RP system, it may well be in your interest to do so).

[Jared W]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Of course, every team in FTC should be asking the magic question: "What would Simbotics do?"

anyone bought a Vexpolerer yet?

too bad it didn't also come with cloaking ability...then you could simultaniously spy on Simbiotics and build your robot while watching it wirelessly on tv haha...just playing guys....we all know its envy in the end.

anyone know if you can use the claw and arm from that yet for FTC? ...i know... i know...most parts are compatible with the current Vex parts..but are they legal? (i checked www.vexlabs.com and they didnt mention anything)

that would solve the problem of picking up rings and placing them on the poles, and also the problem of grabbing the crossbar for the dualie goals.

[Andrew Bates]

Read rule <R5> and that will answer your question.

[fredliu168]

Hey, so we can use mechanical vexplorer parts. Awsome.

Also, did anyone notice how low the cover for the goals are to the ground. If you wish to lift the goals from underneath, it would be hard to slip a device under.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by fredliu168

Hey, so we can use non-mechanical vexplorer parts.

I'm not so sure, this is a Game Design Committee question to post in the forums.
<R5> says:
Robot construction is constrained to the following:
...use of Vexplorer microcontrollers, motors, servos, or other Vexplorer electrical/electronic components is NOT allowed. Only Vexplorer mechanical parts and fasteners are allowed.

[1902_Battery_SGT]

Does any know if it's legal to lift the two connected goals off of the ground?... think of the traction.

[fredliu168]

Originally Posted by 1902_Battery_SGT

Does any know if it's legal to lift the two connected goals off of the ground?... think of the traction.

Legal, quite difficult though. The goals are probably many times heavier than your robot lolz.

[The_Wizard]

Originally Posted by fredliu168

Legal, quite difficult though. The goals are probably many times heavier than your robot lolz.

Forget not that if we tip over any of the goals (even accedentally) we may get disqualified from the match.

[thefro526]

Sadly my team isn't doing FTC this year but still i was thinking about a design/stratagy in my many hours of spare time (pronouced when I lay awake at night lol). So how 'bout a robot that has an extendable arm with a simple claw on the end and that claw rotates up and down so it would have the ability to score any where. But this extendable arm could be used to pull the mobile goals toward you in autonomous mode. Think Rage(173?)'s 2007 robot.But, I think the Champion will be the team who replicates beatty's awsome 2002 robot and modifies it to grab all 3 of the goals ( 2 single and one half of the paired goal)