No Team Should have to Resort to a D-bot (and how to avoid doing so)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Chexposito

one thing i have not liked about the past two games is that KOP robots can't score... overdrive they could drive for points, lunacy they ran away from other robots and pushed balls into the human player stations, breakaway they could score in the goals by pushing balls in... last year and this year they can only play defense.

This year, they're worth between 10 and 40 points apiece. Depending, of course, on how many of them are crammed onto a balanced bridge and which round of competition you're talking about.

[Mr. Pockets]

I've always split robots into three categories, instead of the traditional two:
Offense - Tries to score points Defense - Tries to be a nusiance on the field inhibiting the other team from scoring
Utility - These are the bots that have some special feature that makes them valuable regardless of their other capabilities (Las Gurrillas 2010 is sorta the prime example of this)

Playing good defense is very hard, and to do it notably you either have to build in utility elements, or be very very good at messing up other players by some special means (possibly very powerful pushing while being mobile). General kitbots need to find some way of being special other than pushing people. As has been said a billion times already: anyone can do that.

[Chexposito]

Originally Posted by EricH

This year, they're worth between 10 and 40 points apiece. Depending, of course, on how many of them are crammed onto a balanced bridge and which round of competition you're talking about.

i was going for the main time of the game, but you do have a point.

[Katie_UPS]

If a team wants to build for defense, then good for them.

But if a team builds for defense because they think they can't do anything else... well, those are the folks I'm addressing.

Sorry to revive this after it died a little.

Also, for those who hate games where kitbots can't score: Is it really that bad to ask a team to be able to do more than just drive? It's like asking a student to do more than just show up to class...

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

Also, for those who hate games where kitbots can't score: Is it really that bad to ask a team to be able to do more than just drive? It's like asking a student to do more than just show up to class...

No, it isn't a bad thing to ask. I think in a lot of cases it is like asking a high school freshman to solve an AP Calculus BC free response question though. I've never seen hard numbers, but it has always been my impression that most FRC teams do not have a lot of technical support. Building things that work well repeatedly is hard, that's why we send engineers to school for four years and dump work on them. This still doesn't really make you an engineer, it gives you a background so you don't make a fool of yourself on your first day of work. (At least, this has been my experience)

Even if you have engineers (or mechanics/tinkerers), if they haven't done FRC before 6 weeks means you have a TON to learn in a very short amount of time. In my experience, teams that show up with a kitbot or a kitbot and a basic manipulator have often done a lot more than a student who just shows up to class and does the bare minimum, they just often don't have the tools to do more -- yet.