Lessons from Week 3

[penguinfrk]

The Seattle Olympic Regional was our team's only regional. Here's what we got from playing:

-Consistent scoring in the middle row is far better than erratic scoring in the top.
-Defense by tubes. Useless tubes make for a terrific obstacle for unprepared teams. See Final1m2 here.
-Tube scoring is far more important than people give credit it credit for. This is not because minibots don't matter, but because when alliances have equally fast minibots (at our regional, ~2s was the speed of the minibots on the finals match), a delay from a defensive robot of even 2 or 3 seconds will mean anywhere from a 10 to 30 point differential in the race. See Final1m1.
-The analyst is absolutely huge. I took the role of the analyst in the elimination matches, and a passive analyst is devastating to any alliance. Take advantage of this role, because coordination between the teams is so critical in this year's game.

[hg273]

First of all, congratulations on Saint's successes! It's hard to have a more successful regional event on paper. I'm curious if you could elaborate more on your take on the role of the analyst. Last week in San Diego, we rarely made use of the position. Most alliances, including ours, relied more on the coaches to coordinate actions between teams. While I didn't observe any huge drawbacks (alliance captains and regional finalists), if there's something I'm missing I'm all ears.

[penguinfrk]

Before the competition, we knew that we wanted both an analyst and a HP for whatever circumstances our alliance partners need. Training the analyst prior to the competition involved watching 2007 matches and Week 1/2 matches. Also, being able to do the math (or just simply memorizing scoring scenarios) for optimizing the points scored/tubes hung ratio. Our alliance won without once completing a logo on the top row.

On the field, what I tried to keep in mind (perhaps you can see my bouncing back and forth behind the coaches across the entire alliance station in the camera shots):
-Get the tubes that the opponents need the most

-Never have 3 robots holding the same tube, because that spells out traffic jam at different heights on the rack. I don't think we had two robots holding the same tube very often, and that requires the analyst to coordinate with the coaches.

-Figure out where the most reliable minibot is deploying at 40s based on their location on the field (in our case 3393), and tell the other minibot deployer to go to the opposite side (2990).

-Determining which is more advantageous: minibot race or an "eye for an eye" minibot sacrifice. If you look in Finals 1, Seed 1's minibots scared us (45-30 minibot score, in their favor), so I asked 2990 and 1899 to delay the opponent alliance's minibot deployment, which made the minibot race 30-0 in our favor for Finals 2. A low scoring win is just as good as a high scoring win.

-Keeping track of time. From 120s-50s, if you're an underdog alliance, your defense should be at their opponent alliance wall. From there, the defense should do everything to stop the opponent's more reliable minibot scorer from getting to the tower.

-Flexibility. By around 60s, the analyst should reconcile individual efforts of tube-scoring teams. For example, if there are already 2 logos up, and two more triangles up, stop working on one and finish one logo; the analyst needs to know the limits of the teams and when to stop working individually on logos.

-Anti-defense. I think the most common phrase that I said as analyst was "Get <opponent team number> off of <alliance partner>"


With only one robot that could score on the top row and two minibots between 2 and 3 seconds, strategy by far was what pulled us through. A keen analyst is a must.

[Thad House]

Most of the same could be said over on the cascade field. Also, don't throw tubes onto the pole, because if it interferes with minibot deployment it is a red card. Our human player did this, but it did not interfere with the minibot, so it was all good. But they did say something about it.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sst.thad

Most of the same could be said over on the cascade field. Also, don't throw tubes onto the pole, because if it interferes with minibot deployment it is a red card. Our human player did this, but it did not interfere with the minibot, so it was all good. But they did say something about it.

A double red card was issued in the Arizona QFs--one was for tubing the pole (interfering with Minibot deployment); the other for something else.

The tubing the pole one was rescinded after somebody pointed out that the HP who threw the tube was on the affected alliance--but it sure looked like there would be a third match in that set.

Something I saw: Strategy, Strategy, Strategy. After 842, 330, and 2662 lost a semis match (blocked from the towers, and a red card on 330 for contact with a deploying robot), they re-strategized. The next match saw 330 and one of their partners waiting at towers ready to deploy well before the 15-second mark, before anybody was ready to defend the towers. (That was the one where a tower base plate came up while a tube was being picked up.) Two more matches with similar strategy later, and all three teams had blue banners.

[penguinfrk]

Originally Posted by EricH

The next match saw 330 and one of their partners waiting at towers ready to deploy well before the 15-second mark, before anybody was ready to defend the towers. (That was the one where a tower base plate came up while a tube was being picked up.) Two more matches with similar strategy later, and all three teams had blue banners.

The scramble for the minibot tower began way before the 15s mark (40s mark or so). Having good defense scares the living daylights out of many teams, it seems.

[Koko Ed]

After three weeks of watching this game I can't recall a game where so many teams have looked so bad playing it. There's alot to do and there's alot to mess up mechanically, mentally and physically (sorry guys ringing Carol won't get you points but it was funny). The game looks downright unwatchable at times during qualification matches but improves dramatically in the elims from the semis on.

[catsylve]

We have attended two regionals so far and I have enjoyed watching them both immensely. The only reason teams don't look good in the beginning is that this game relies on teamwork and until teams establish that as the game progresses, they will have problems. Teams need to coordinate the following:
1) which alliance partners will throw
2) which alliance partners will launch minibots
3) which alliance partners will score rings or play defense
4) which bots have trouble scoring over the ubertube
5) which bots should be where in autonomous

In short, this game is about teamwork, BIG time. I hope that the best message we
get across to the student team members this year is that teamwork and doing your own part are critical.

[AndrewN]

As a robot inspector at Seattle, here's some tips for teams:
- Get the latest "Driver Station Update" 02.27.11.00. If you borrow a spare classmate check it has the latest version too. The cRIO firmware image should be v28. Bring all the software updates on a USB thumb drive you can lend to other teams.
- Disable the wireless NIC on your laptop, tether using cable to the D-Link bridge. Connect and disconnect to the D-Link not the cRIO.
- Make sure the D-Link is in bridge mode.
- Slot 1 of the cRIO must have the analog bumper with
a) a jumper on the outside two pins so the FMS can see your battery voltage.
b) power from a 20A breaker to the WAGO connector on top
- The D-Link must be powered through the 12V-5V converter, which must be connected to the 12V output on the power distribution board not the breaker output in the side of the PD. Solves lots of communication problems.
- Don't forget the 12V power to the digital sidecar, it almost works without it.

If you are looking for intermittent problems that occur on the field but not in the pit, shake the robot (safely) while it's running in the pit - look for all those loose wire connections.

It was loads of fun! Let's do it again in week 4 (Portland).

[Mr V]

If you are sharing a minibot make certain the team you loan it to tells the que'er and sees that they record it on the form. The queuing form does have a place for the que'er to record the team number, if they have a minibot and if yes to the minibot whether it is your own or loaned.

Since the minibot can mean big points make sure you start heading for the tower early. You may encounter some defense along the way as well as tubes piled around the base that you may have to push out of the way.