WEEK 1

Originally Posted by pfreivald

Park against the fender, push sideways if necessary.

So what are the ways around this for fenderbots?

[PayneTrain]

Find a way to stay still.

In 2006, our team built a system that dropped incredulously high friction pads all around the robot so we couldn't be touched when we scored. If we were to have kept that subsystem on this year, that would have been something that could help.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

So what are the ways around this for fenderbots?

As far as I can tell, unless you've anticipated it and built a robot to deal with it (a high-traction drive train and a sideways scoring mechanism, for example... or being able to score from both the front and the side of the fender), you're going to have a hard time dealing with a defensive robot that can prevent you from getting to your scoring position.

I'm sure people more clever/insightful than I am can come up with other solutions, too.

Originally Posted by pfreivald

As far as I can tell, unless you've anticipated it and built a robot to deal with it (a high-traction drive train and a sideways scoring mechanism, for example... or being able to score from both the front and the side of the fender), you're going to have a hard time dealing with a defensive robot that can prevent you from getting to your scoring position.

I'm sure people more clever/insightful than I am can come up with other solutions, too.

What about scoring.....from the side? (into the middle hoops?)

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

What about scoring.....from the side? (into the middle hoops?)

Yup. That works, too -- though you're limited to one side because of your opponent's alley. (I'd be shocked if there aren't other strategies/builds that enable fenderbots to circumvent or mitigate defense.)

Originally Posted by pfreivald

Yup. That works, too -- though you're limited to one side because of your opponent's alley. (I'd be shocked if there aren't other strategies/builds that enable fenderbots to circumvent or mitigate defense.)

All I know is front or side, 256 is just rocking those middle hoops like they're nobody's business.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

All I know is front or side, 256 is just rocking those middle hoops like they're nobody's business.

I would expect no less! 256 is a powerhouse for a reason.

Originally Posted by pfreivald

I would expect no less! 256 is a powerhouse for a reason.

.......Do you mean 254? I'm going to be honest with you. I would never call 256 a powerhouse now. maybe in a year or two (or by week 5, depending how we do). We're a great team, but not a powerhouse yet. We strive to be one, and have been taking the 973 approach to things, since they are a successful team we greatly admire, and one of the best teams in my personal opinion, and pushing ourselves this year to do our best. Maybe we'll be successful. Maybe not. But until then, we are team 256. Just team 256.

Thank you very much for the compliment, but we're not a powerhouse yet. But, keep an eye out for us at the Silicon Valley and Central Valley, and you can see what we've come up with this year.

[Deetman]

While I was not coaching or driving (those days are long gone...) it appears to be important for balancing that one robot does the majority of the work. The most effective balancing seemed to come from one robot tipping the bridge, driving up but keeping it tilted, and the second robot pushing the first up the bridge and knowing the sweet spot for stopping. It also helps a bunch if a robot won't slip down a tilted bridge with no power applied to the wheels.

[Mastonevich]

1. Hybrid mode really can make a difference. There is the potential to score 36 points. That amount of points can win several matches.

2. To get a high seed, a team must have many matches where they balance with the opposite alliance on the coopertition bridge. This can not be stressed enough.

3. Balancing on bridges wins matches.

4. To win most regionals you will have to be proficient at scoring in the 3 point hoop. This can be done from the key portion with great accuracy.

[JosephC]

1. Balancing 3 robots is possible, and was a major game changer in a few elim matches.

2. It is possible for Inbounders to make baskets from their stations.

3. The Coop points are VERY important to make it to the top seed. Team 1684 Chimeras was the #1 seed for the entirety of Friday at Kettering because they balanced the center bridge 4 times.

4. I can't wait for Week 2. After watching all of the webcasts (thanks coderedrobotics.com) I can hardly wait until we get our chance to show what we're made of.

5. I REALLY need to finish our camera tracking and autonomous code.

[JABot67]

Originally Posted by JosephC

5. I REALLY need to finish our camera tracking and autonomous code.

If you can't do camera tracking, just focus on shooting well from the key. I was very surprised at how well my team did without working camera tracking code.

[Mastonevich]

One of the winners at KC did not have camera tracking. They use the camera to line up though. They were one of the best shooters at KC by far.

[Dusk Star]

1. Triple balancing will be difficult, if not impossible. Ove the entire time at Kettering, not a single alliance managed it. However, double balancing will almost always win the match in seeding matches, and helps enormously in elims.

2. The coopertition bridge is really dangerous. I saw at least 20 teams flip while trying it- much more than the alliance bridges.

3. A slow (shots per second), close range shooter mechanism is much more valuable than a powerful, inaccurate one. There simply aren't enough balls on the field to really allow an inaccurate shooter to thrive.

4. Lining up both power and direction in teleop is harder than one would think.

5. As an addition to 4, vision can be very useful- teams that could have the robot aim, even if it took 15-20 seconds, for them were much more effective.

6. Enough robots will have a bridge manipulator that a small subset of teams can survive without one, and still climb the bridge. You just need something else to make yourself useful

7. Have some way to tell if there is a ball under the bridge you are trying to press down. I saw many teams pushing against a ball again and again, only to have it push the bridge back up before they could get it low enough...

Personal note: at Kettering, it was ruled that [G28] is transitive, same as pinning is. In other words, if blue robot A is touching the key, blue B is touching A, and red robot C touches blue robot B, they are in violation of [G28]. My team got called on that 3 times (same match), and when we challenged it afterwards the head referee said the above. We were REALLY ANNOYED, as it brought us from a tie to a loss. And this was after we had rolled down the coopertition bridge after a failed balance, to prevent the other team from falling off. And the robot on the key was dead, so it wasn't even like we trying to disrupt them... Does this sound correct to anyone else?

[davidthefat]

Anyone see a defensive or a feeder bot? From what I have seen, there was only offensive bots.