[MCC] Minimum Competitive Concept 2012

[Chris is me]

In my opinion, the following were this year's essential tasks:

• Floor pickup / reverse
• Cross bridges by self (i.e. can lower bridge and drive on)
• Score in a goal at the fender. (2 point goal?)

1 point or 2 point - In my opinion / observation, it is not that much harder to score in the 2 point goal than it is to score in the 1 point goal. So while I am not sure if it is essential, I would suggest a team go for it as I don't think there is much of any opportunity cost. The autonomous gain of shooting for the higher goal isn't that much (25% more points) but in teleop it's twice as many points per ball which is too big of a margin to ignore unless it is significantly harder to achieve. Which I don't think it is.

Then again, a 20 point contribution to the match alone (low goal in auto + 2 balls on bridge + single balance) is probably significant enough to be competitive at many events this year. Maybe the 2 point goal isn't so important...

In auton, a drive forward and shoot routine is pretty doable. Driving 12 feet straight(ish) is not unfathomable, and the fender itself helps the drive base square up. The 10 points here are somewhat easy to get, if you design for it in particular rather than a more general shooter.

I don't think crossing the bump is mandatory, and I think the other criteria cover most of the other roles the robot could play at higher roles. Having floor pickup and reversal allows for feeding a higher power auton, playing ball starvation defensive strategies, etc. in a match where the robot is the least good scorer. Being able to lower the bridge is important for those easy 10 points and also allows the robot full field mobility.

Scoring 20+ points a match and being able to co-op bridge is probably plenty to seed high at many events. I haven't run the numbers though.

I didn't include anything about orientation, but I think building a robot longer than 28 inches with such simple goals would only limit the robot rather than help it.

In my mind, 4334 is the epitome of the minimum competitive concept. I don't know how reliable their auton is, but they did an awesome job doing the mandatory parts of the game well, and proved themselves as an Einstein worthy asset to an alliance.