Best way to estimate the best defense bot

[arbym]

We view defense from an offensive slow down of the opposing alliance. We log all defense events that happen (blocking movement, nudging while shooting, etc.) and correlate back to the offensive team. We then display those statistics as shooting percentage and shooting percentage while defended. We also look at the cycle time from pickup to shoot, to pickup and compare defended vs. undefended. Because we logged the event who was defending we can show who caused the offense to decrease. All ties back to our real-time scouting effort.

[themccannman]

Originally Posted by arbym

We view defense from an offensive slow down of the opposing alliance. We log all defense events that happen (blocking movement, nudging while shooting, etc.) and correlate back to the offensive team. We then display those statistics as shooting percentage and shooting percentage while defended. We also look at the cycle time from pickup to shoot, to pickup and compare defended vs. undefended. Because we logged the event who was defending we can show who caused the offense to decrease. All ties back to our real-time scouting effort.

If you have the resources to do this, it is a great method for tracking defensive capabilities of robots. The only problem is that it only tells you how well robots that play defense do, not how well they could play defense if you asked them to. Some of the best defensive robots are the ones who never play defense until elims.

[Tom Line]

We've found that generally speaking, scouting for a 'good' defensive team is a factor of a couple things.

Obviously, the first thing you require is a good drive train.

Next in our experience is how well that team has worked with us. We get a chance to be with most teams in the qualification matches, and we know most other teams from previous experience. How receptive their drive-coach and drive team is, and how well they can carry out a plan, is immensely important to us.

This year, modifying any robot to block is fairly easy while keeping a low cg. That plus a smart drive team and coach, plus a nice 10 point hang will get you on just about every defensive pick-list out there.