2013 Lessons Learned: The Positive

[thefro526]

The 2013 Season has been the best one in a LONG time...

- The Game. Ultimate Ascent ranks high up on the 'best' games of all time list, and would more than likely have been the 'best' game of the Three Team Alliance era had the climbing rules been a tad less restrictive. The deceptive ease of scoring frisbees is exactly what we needed after the last few games. Just about any team could build an upper middle tier robot in terms of disc scoring with parts bought from Home Depot/Lowes/Etc (#BucketAlliance) and some smart thinking.

- The Rules. They're definitely getting better at making the games easier to follow and call. Now if only we could have a game where 'intent' wasn't a factor....

- Motor Allowances. I'm a fan of 6 CIM's, 4 Mini-Cims/BAGs, 4 550's, 4 9015's and the rest. We should do this again.

- Starting Volume. The Perimeter method is definitely the way to go, makes inspection so much faster and easier.

- Versa Wheels. Cheap, Light and Grippy - can't ask for more in a wheel. The piloting may have been a tad overhyped (or they didn't plan on someone piloting 4 parts together) but it works well for doing sprocket to wheel connections.

I'll probably have more stuff eventually.

Originally Posted by Oblarg

Oh, their customer service was great, and had they not been we probably would not have fielded a functioning robot. But, that said, about half of the hardware we purchased from them this year, from gearboxes to shaft collars (which we should have purchased from McMaster, yes, we know) to wheels, was defective.

I believe this topic would be better discussed in the '2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative' thread...