Goals for 2012

[Eric O]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

You guys get within 6 matches of the Championship every year. We haven't qualified for the Championship yet. Our goal is to qualify, and then win. That also affects design decisions (i.e. being very good at a low hanging task to do well enough at regionals to advance as opposed to writing off that strategy because we don't think the winning alliance at Champs will feature that)

Chris,

We have been very successful at Championship. We have also not won a regional since 2006. Except for qualifying by winning the championship the previous year we have been to the championship via the waitlist sign up every year since '06. If you haven't qualified for Championship, why haven't you just signed up?

When evaluating strategies which affect design decisions at the beginning of the season, I can't think of any season which planning for a championship strategy would cause you to build the wrong robot. It usually makes sense to develop new strategies for regional play, but if you designed your robot to play a championship strategy, it will likely have the capabilities you need to contribute to your regional.

Also, don't forget that the last overall pick a division has a good chance of winning a division. If you don't think you can be a top 8 team, strategize to be a great 2nd pick in a division. It could reduce the requirements for your robot while still satisfy a goal of "win championship"

-Eric