Most in-demand robot type?

[MaGiC_PiKaChU]

Originally Posted by CR1305Mascotte

our robot can grab cans off of the step and score them up to 5 tote stacks high and we attended the GTR east, Waterloo, and the North Bay regionals and at every single one we were either picked or in picking position

if you attend champs, you will have to find a pure stacking bot for your alliance. All the top teams will be doing everything by themselves, and i don't think they will need an extra capper because most top teams will stack a few 6-stacks each (although your can burgling abilities might come in handy.)

This said, if you get matched with a pure stacking bot in 1st or 2nd pick, you will have to score higher using stacks of 5 totes, against 6-high stacks

[SoccerTaco]

As has been discussed over and over, Einstein could be decided in the first second of the match if one side gets the majority of the cans from the step.

But let's assume each alliance pulls 2 cans from the step - then what strategy becomes important? What abilities are needed by alliance members?

For the 5 cans an alliance does have, they will clearly need to milk every point possible out of them - so 6 totes high and noodled for each of those 5 stacks is mandatory. But that is only 30 totes.

So the ability to clear the feeder totes and the landfill totes becomes important. Do the step totes then become decisive? Is that a second arms race that the top teams are planning for? Or maybe noodle throwers? Or litter pushers (to get thrown noodles to the landfill)? Auton? What becomes the important factors for an alliance?

[K-Dawg157]

In the competitions our team went to, and I can definitely see this carrying over into champs, Can burglaring and a stacked tote set in autonomous were the biggest factors.

So, if it came down to each side having the same amount of recycling cans, I think it would come down to the autonomous, and which side has a tote stacked set.

[g_sawchuk]

Depends on the captain. Any kind of robot can be a captain when it gets to champs if they do their job well. It just depends what suits them. Like 1114 would want:
-Capper/bin grabber
-HP stacker

Really comes down to the captain.

[M1KRONAUT]

Feeder-loading stackers won pretty much everything, so I'd say they'd be pretty in-demand.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by K-Dawg157

In the competitions our team went to, and I can definitely see this carrying over into champs, Can burglaring and a stacked tote set in autonomous were the biggest factors.

So, if it came down to each side having the same amount of recycling cans, I think it would come down to the autonomous, and which side has a tote stacked set.

I would be surprised if the Einstein alliances didn't have a tote stack in autonomous, or at least the ability; forgoing it altogether is another story.

[KrazyCarl92]

Imagine a robot that grabs two containers off the step every single time in autonomous faster than any other team in the world (or division), then does nothing else the rest of the match.

A number one seeded team at world champs is likely putting up 2-4 full stacks on their own every single match. I would guess that a team capable of putting up 2 full stacks could potentially be around as a 24th selection, and the 25th selection will be just about as effective.

There is a tremendous incentive for the number 1 seed to select the "grabs containers-does nothing" robot because they can probably still put up 5 or 6 full stacks as an alliance even with a "do nothing in teleop" robot because they can put up 2-4 stacks and the other alliance partner can put up 2 stacks. And with 4 team alliances, they can sub in the really fast auto RC grabber when they need them and sub the team out when they can safely get the cans otherwise and could use a "contribute something in teleop" robot with a slightly slower (but still sufficiently fast to win the race) step grabber.

Now consider that any team with the resources to be the fastest team in the world at grabbing RC's from the step in auto is likely to also be able to do something during teleop to contribute to the alliance. Now change your "grabs containers-does nothing robot" to a "grabs containers-holds their own" robot, and you can see the scales are tipped even more in their favor.

Now the assumptions about the abilities of the "200th best team" at the world championship and there being an auto RC grabber which beats all other RC grabbers in the division cut and dry are probably inaccurate to certain degrees. But I still cannot see how this singular trait would not overwhelm all other considerations for alliance selection criteria given that there are two more members of the alliance that could be effective robots.

[carpedav000]

On the topic of canburglars, would anyone be kind enough to tell me the minimum width of a 2-can arm going for the holes in the top?

[Bryce Paputa]

Originally Posted by carpedav000

On the topic of canburglars, would anyone be kind enough to tell me the minimum width of a 2-can arm going for the holes in the top?

The centers of the holes are sixty eight inches apart.

[carpedav000]

Originally Posted by Bryce Paputa

The centers of the holes are sixty eight inches apart.

Thank you for the information, good sir.

[apache8080]

I believe the most in demand robot type is a robot that can do the following:
-grab two cans off the bridge in under a second
-lift cans to the top of the human player station and get noodles
-pickup cans from either orientation
-place cans in either orientation

A robot like this is the perfect fit with a top alliance like 1114 and 2056 or 254 and 118. The strategy that would work with these robots is 118 and this robot, team XXXX, will grab the 4 cans off the bridge while 254 would do the 3 tote stack in autonomous. In teleop 118 and 254 would take there first can and begin making their stacks while team XXXX takes the other cans, puts noodles in them, and then places the noodle filled cans in the location that both 118 and 254 would like them to place them and in the right orientation of course.