Driver Selection: A Discussion

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Duke461

I see your point, and i agree you shouldnt go easy on the robot, but there were times where robots were hit, or were going too fast over the hump and flipped over.

If a robot's hit and something broke, especially bumper to bumper contact, bad design.

If your robot can't go over the hump past a certain speed without flipping, design issues aside, you should probably have some kind of software limit rather than something as subjective as "don't go too fast man"

But even a year like this, aggressiveness could be bad. Lets say you're farther away from a tube than the opponent, and you're both driving full speed. The only way you have a chance of getting that tube is by putting your arm to the ground way before you get there. Now theres a good chance you'll smack the arm/wrist, and high speed side loads can harm basically any arm/wrist/lift.

We designed for that exact situation, and it showed. Our robot's arm was snagged on another at Battlecry. They drove forward and yanked us around by our arm, with absolutely no damage. Obviously that's a worst case scenario, and arms should definitely NOT be used that way, but robust design should be something that is always emphasized.

Thats not always the best way to look at it. In my example above, i'd rather decrease my chances of winning that match by a little bit as opposed to having to play defense or sit out 2-5 matches because your arm was smashed.

You really need to be able to make nearly any repair in one match cycle.

Losing just one match can kill your chances at the Top 8. Do you really want your driver to wasting precious brain cells doubting himself and his robot? No, you have split second decisions to make, there's no time to think.