Thoughts on Ri3D and BuildBlitz

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by KeeganP

If I were to ask you what you would improve upon for Ri3D, what would you say? I'm not asking why you think it's so great (you've already told me, along with everyone else on the thread -- so I know why, and agree with a lot of the reasons), I'm asking what, if anything, you would do to change it.

So far I've gotten maybe three responses (out of 70+) that answer that question.

I wouldn't change much. The changes from 2013->2014 made a big difference. More teams, better documentation provided quicker, and better blogging of the process as it was happening are all improvements that happened in 2014.

The only thing I'd like to see that hasn't happened yet, is bringing together 6 (or more in 2015?) 72-hour robots to actually play some real matches of the game, perhaps on the first weekend after kickoff, as that will give us some more information about how the game will actually be played, rather than just what robot mechanisms can solve the game's challenges (without the context of defense and so on to frame it).

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by Racer26

The only thing I'd like to see that hasn't happened yet, is bringing together 6 (or more in 2015?) 72-hour robots to actually play some real matches of the game, perhaps on the first weekend after kickoff, as that will give us some more information about how the game will actually be played, rather than just what robot mechanisms can solve the game's challenges (without the context of defense and so on to frame it).

Something that really would help every team, rookies and veterans alike, is to see a match in action, showing potential strategies, and mainly just to see the timing of certain tasks. One thing that really influences a lot of design decisions on teams is the (mis)timing of completing objectives in a match. I know this would've helped my team in 2012, we used horrible time estimates for each task to be completed and we underestimated how many points could potentially be scored!

[KeeganP]

Originally Posted by Anupam Goli

Something that really would help every team, rookies and veterans alike, is to see a match in action, showing potential strategies, and mainly just to see the timing of certain tasks. One thing that really influences a lot of design decisions on teams is the (mis)timing of completing objectives in a match. I know this would've helped my team in 2012, we used horrible time estimates for each task to be completed and we underestimated how many points could potentially be scored!

That's really interesting. I hadn't thought about that before, but this year -- especially with passing -- it would have been cool to see just how long/easily/consistently robots can realistically pass a ball between them. Our team is hoping to host a day near the end of Build Season that we can assemble a field and test with multiple teams, and that'll be our first time being able to see how the game is played without just guessing.

[TheMadCADer]

Originally Posted by Anupam Goli

Something that really would help every team, rookies and veterans alike, is to see a match in action, showing potential strategies, and mainly just to see the timing of certain tasks. One thing that really influences a lot of design decisions on teams is the (mis)timing of completing objectives in a match. I know this would've helped my team in 2012, we used horrible time estimates for each task to be completed and we underestimated how many points could potentially be scored!

I would also really like to see the quick build projects move in this direction. I could even see this as a good replacement for the yearly game animation. Whenever I show a new student the game animation, it has to come with a heap of disclaimers that all of the robots they show are completely unrealistic and not representative of what to expect. I always end up showing videos of previous games to give them a better perspective on match play.