Buyers' remorse / Pig in a poke

[themagic8ball]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

I'm sorry if your team has had a bad year, seriously. But my team, in our first regional, had an apparent victory in QF snatched after the fact due to the difficulties of reffing this game, and in the rematch their robot was torn in half. They have rebuilt from scratch the frame and shooter/collector to get ready for the next event. And they are HAPPY. In fact, the kids who came back from Utah say that it was life changing for them. I agree. They have done everything in their power, which was more than they ever thought possible. And that's enough to make me like FRC, and this (flawed) game.

This is exactly what FRC is about. If you measure your success by winning you are doing it wrong. Yes winning the game is awesome, and I get wrapped up in the moment as a mentor, but this year's game is about teamwork. We knew our biggest challenge going into Wisconsin was figuring out how to help getting less able robots to help get assist points. We still don't have any great insights, but it sure is awesome when you win a match with the help of some partners that didn't think they would be able to contribute.

It isn't as if less able teams aren't trying to win. They want to win just as much as you. But as veteran teams we need to find ways to help them become more successful. You cannot just tell a team 5 minutes before a match that they have this and that responsibility and then just ignore them when they don't come through. If you find yourself showing up to Regionals without competitive teams its up to your team to reach out and help them during build season. This organization is much better when we collaborate and help each other out, instead of letting new teams flounder and eventually die out because their students never get a chance.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by themagic8ball

We knew our biggest challenge going into Wisconsin was figuring out how to help getting less able robots to help get assist points. We still don't have any great insights, but it sure is awesome when you win a match with the help of some partners that didn't think they would be able to contribute.

A bit off topic, but this stuff is amazing for quick robot mods (especially for building quick backboards/hoops to hold the gamepiece).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite...B100/202033006

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

A bit off topic, but this stuff is amazing for quick robot mods (especially for building quick backboards/hoops to hold the gamepiece).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite...B100/202033006

We ended up designing an Assist mechanism that passively contained and possessed the ball, easily loaded by a Human Player, until the drive base accelerated and it would dump it out. Made from Home Depot PVC pipe and fittings for <$15.

We marketed several of them at our event, but found it very difficult to work with the teams that had not read the rules and did not know how the game played. Even making the assembly and use as simple as possible, human players would have difficulty loading it and drivers would have difficulty using it. We learned a lot from this experience, mostly that these teams need help long before the event starts if it's going to be effective.

We have been using the same PEX pipe for various catcher and ball guidance prototypes. Really great stuff.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

A bit off topic, but this stuff is amazing for quick robot mods (especially for building quick backboards/hoops to hold the gamepiece).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite...B100/202033006

Give us Colin back. I know that was his idea.