Why Winners Win?

[OZ_341]

Truly listening to the wealth of advice around you is so important.
Don't work in a vacuum all season long.

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by smistthegreat

I definitely agree with what seems to be the general consensus here, that teamwork, well, works. This point was definitely highlighted in 2009, as many of the elite teams in the world fell to a well thought out and well executed strategy. The 254 example has already been brought up, but another example of this was when 1507, 121, and 177 (the 5 seed) took down 1625, 234, and 768, the one seed, on our way to winning Newton. The only reason we were able to do that was a very, very well executed strategy carried out by all 3 robots, with a healthy dose of luck. 1625 and 234 were definitely, in my opinion, better robots than us, but we were able to squeak out a win by executing our strategy to perfection. (the no pinning rule helped a bit too).

In my opinion, the lesson learned here is that it is not necessarily the best robots that win, but the alliance that can work together flawlessly as a singly entity, with each robot playing their part by carrying out a well thought out strategy.

You still have magical amounts of traction, that is all

[Marc S.]

Originally Posted by OZ_341

... I do not think there was a more effective robot for the given game challenge in all of FIRST during 2009....

There might have been a higher OPR robot at champs that year.
973's robot was very effective, although because of a bright orange paint job it was dificult to sneak up on anybody. This is why 973's 2010 bot is all black.

What do i think is a winning combination?
Having a prototype robot handy before kickoff thats ready to test ideas. Build 2 robots so you don't have to rush the build. Cad everything before building.

Before season design robots in cad that would be effective in past games. Use a previous game as a design challenge and then see what designs were effective. More often then not(and especialy for this game) solutions for past challenges will leak into the next. When designing a robot build it from the ground up, don't reverse engineer someonesles design without testing it. And don't ever remove a sim during comp to make weight!

Do the math! If done right you can check weights in CAD aswell as do strength tests.

[Mike Soukup]

Originally Posted by OZ_341

With all that is being said here about how we beat 254 and 968, I just have to add what amazing machines 254 and 968 had that year. I do not think there was a more effective robot for the given game challenge in all of FIRST during 2009.

With all due respect to EJ, Cory, Travis, and the rest of 254 (we're friends, they know I'm a big fan of theirs, and I know they can take honest criticism), I wouldn't call a robot that can easily get pinned for the entire match the most effective robot for the given game challenge. Most effective for a specific subset, certainly, but not for the entire game.

[Dancin103]

They have the drive and determination to win!