Any human player stategies?

[bhoffman11]

true, but it all depends on the robots. most people throw cuz its bringing the tubes to them and a opposing robot can easily trap you inside your isolated zone while ur team goes without that precious tube. Plus if you throw, you could knock other tubes out of the opposing bot's hands (or just hit them for fun.)

When all else fails, just shift into crawler gear and push!

[lwhipker]

Another question I had was what the human player in the analyst position does.

Is it just the human player the other teams in the alliance assume to have worse throwing skills or are there other factors going into the decision about which human player is an analyst?

Hard to tell from the videos.

[Brian Ha]

Extra Eyes

[lwhipker]

Extra eyes is great -- but to communicate with who? The coaches, the drivers, their own team/alliance teams, the feeders at the other end?

Did anyone competing last week have a helpful (or even great!) analyst in any of their alliances?

[Siri]

There's actually a thread with some insights on the analyst role. At Week 1 most teams didn't use them much at all, though in some cases I and some other coaches found them helpful for communicating with Feeders.

[GCentola]

Originally Posted by lwhipker

Extra eyes is great -- but to communicate with who? The coaches, the drivers, their own team/alliance teams, the feeders at the other end?

Did anyone competing last week have a helpful (or even great!) analyst in any of their alliances?

We often used our own team's HP as analyst, and he provided time calls, relative score updates (whether we were up or down, and by about how much), and was able to scan the field and inform me of any nearby tubes, if anyone else was going to the tower and much useful info. Point being: Analyst = great, if you use it right

[George Nishimura]

Control supply of game pieces. watch both scoring grids, and watch your teams robot. Don't gift possession to the other team.

You can also be another pair of eyes for lining up the minibot and for picking up tubes.

[Koko Ed]

You should throw tubes across the field if:
* consistently get them to your safe zone or at the very least to the other side of the field.
* You have a good to excellent floor pick up on your robot or the robots on your alliance or your opposing alliance is not very good at picking up from the floor.


Do Not throw tubes across the field if:
*Your throws are weak and end up on the same side of the field as yourself or worse in the opposing alliance's scoring zone (this happened in Florida with an alliance in the elims)
* You have a weak to non existing floor pick up on your robot or the robots on your alliance or your opposing alliance is better at picking up from the floor than your alliance is.
* Your throws are going over into the opposing loading lanes where your robots cannot go or your throws are flying everywhere and crashing into judges and the scoring table at the sides (or just going straight up into the air or having a glass shot bounce right back straight into your face).


Also if you are an analyst you should engage your feeder FROM THE DRIVERS STATION during a match. Not in their feeder station on the opposite side of the field. And when the referee spots you and tells you to go back to your station you do it immediately!
Also there should be one person to a feeder station and don't touch the tubes til the tel-operated period begins.

[Travis Hoffman]

I saw 291's feeder and others in Pittsburgh getting good distance and accuracy by throwing tubes over their heads backwards, facing away from the field.

[Hurband]

Our Human Player certainly made a huge contribution to the success of 525 at the Greater Kansas City Regional this weekend in both qualification and elimination matches. Check out some video from MORE.net (qualification semi-finals 1 was high score for entire regional).

Our player, who is wellover 6 ft tall, grips the game pieces with 2 hands from the very corner and throws backwards. we call it the "French Fling" as he is an exchange student from France.

He was able to put gamepieces in the safe zone with amazing accuracy. Note that he had practiced this technique for may weeks and we knew that it was a big part of our plan for success this year. The circles travel the most predictably and furthest but with proper release the triangle and square generally end up where we or our alliance parnters could quickly pick them up.

We also used placards to let the human players know which gamepiece was required.

By the end of the regional several other human players were using the "French Fling".

[bhoffman11]

Well I'm 6ft 6in and I am exactly the same height as the feeder wall!
I tried over the back, but it ended badly. I ended hitting an opposing robot and almost knocking the router off.
Is it illegal to hit other robots with tubes or to try to hit the tubes out of the bot's hands? or try to ring them and get them a penalty of carrying 2 tubes?
Also, does anybody know a way to relieve a sore shoulder during a competition? (maybe even when your on the field)
Icy hot?
Shoulder brace?
compression?
good ol' ice?

[ATH1RSTYM00SE]

What i have found success doing was throwing tomahawk style except since i have the gift of being tall what i try and do is reach as high up as i can and throw the square and circle downwards so the bounce is as close to the feed station as possible. I also try to put a fair amount of spin on the tubes by gripping what would be the top when i wind up and i to an extent flick the tube on the way out of my hands. Doing this resulted in a fair amount of my throws landing in the safe zone accurately and where i wanted them. with this method i even hit one of our alliance members in the semi finals match with a tube that they essentially caught with their gripper. hope this helped

[bhoffman11]

Yeah, I like to throw one handed and since i also have such big hands, I can grip it one handed. Spin is the key with the squares and triangles, since they can't really roll, but bounce. I also flick it near the top to add that spin to get it all the way down the field!
What also might work is to look at golf websites, magizines, or talk to ur schools golf team. Throwing these tubes i found is pretty much the same form and rotation as a golf swing. (although i do have a slice in golf, I have a slice in throwing ) Practice rotation, arm position, and arm movement to get a added whip effect. thanks for your reply. it really helped!

[GiannaLeigh3]

Since I am sooo short compared to most of the guys that are human players(I'm only 5'4"), I have to take a big step or two before throwing the tube. I also have to arch my back and snap it forward while throwing the tube with both hands above my head! (: Does anyone like throwing one tube more than the other tubes? I find throwing the square easier than the triangle. And the circle way easier to throw than both.

[CassCity2081]

Just from watching some regional videos I was just wondering if throwing the tubes is the best strategy? I saw many teams that tried to throw the tubes and ended up not getting them far enough and giving the other team easy scores. I would appreciate any help from teams who have already been to a regional.