To build an craw or not, that tis the question.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

If my opponents couldn't floor load, I might intentionally drop tubes in their lanes...

Be careful of this strategy in respect to the rules updates. Remember the tube is part of your robot and if you cross the lane with it you will get a penalty... you might be able to push a tube in across the floor ... maybe...

[Mk.32]

Since we have a small team we decided to leave a spot to build an arm on the robot then get the base and forklift done the revisit the Arm. Thinking about it it might seem worth it. But to do it we need to design and build it Hm. Decisions decisions ...

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

Be careful of this strategy in respect to the rules updates. Remember the tube is part of your robot and if you cross the lane with it you will get a penalty... you might be able to push a tube in across the floor ... maybe...

I agree completely... But just dropping a tube in front of someone's lane might be enough to cause serious problems for them if they can't floor-load. (One could always drop a tube, then accidentally hit it in a side-ways-like manner... I'm not making any claims toward GP, or rules or anything -- but we've been burned before by what should have been illegal being allowed by the refs, and even more by not understanding what the rules actually were.)

All that aside, my actual point is this: If you can't pick up from the floor, you're not a top-tier robot. Period.

[vigkvagkv2]

My team is making a feeder robot this year. With the number of robots doing that this year, you might become a hindrance to your team if you don't have at least some minor floor pickup.

[Mk.32]

Yeah this did it, we are building an claw for floor pick up B-)

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

All that aside, my actual point is this: If you can't pick up from the floor, you're not a top-tier robot. Period.

I bet in 2006 people thought the same thing. Then they saw team 25. They went undefeated through 2 regionals, only 2 loses in route to a Newton Division Championship and ended up Championship Finalists. They got game pieces from their human player on the other side of the field and drove the length of the field to score them. No ground pick-up. 3 Banners, 3 Gold Medals and 1 Silver medal. Thats a top-tier robot.

Teams can be "top-tier" if they excel at the strategy they build for. 3 weeks in, if your strategy is human load only, stick with it and make it unstoppable.

[pfreivald]

Well, if FIRST has taught me anything, it's that there are exceptions to every rule!

...it just seems to me that floor pickup capability is not that difficult to add to a pre-existing grabber assembly, and not having it is very likely to be a bad idea.