Value of Coopertition

[Jon Stratis]

In the case of FRC games, we aren't given specific tasks to do. We're given a game to play. How you play that game is called strategy, and different teams will have different strategies to do meet their goals (playing in the Elimination matches). If a team feels that scoring baskets is the best way to meet the challenge the game presents, they'll design a robot to do that. Another team may feel that balancing the bridge (whether it's the coop bridge or the alliance bridge) is the best strategy. Other teams may try to do both.

We've seen the different challenges in the games have different effects every year. In Logomotion, the minibot was a huge part of many games, and a team that could get first in the race every time could be a huge benefit to an alliance. In Breakaway, hanging wasn't worth a huge amount, and many teams chose to try to continue scoring goals instead. In Lunacy, human players often scored more points than the robots. In Overdrive, I saw 148 completely ignore the balls, but race around the track like you couldn't believe. In Rack 'N Roll, my rookie team was picking, despite not placing a single tube and only being able to elevate 1 other robot.

Don't look at it as a "main challenge" versus other aspects of the game... examine each game to determine what strategy your team can use to best meet its goals.