MCC (Minimum competitive Concept 2015

[Gregor]

Of highly competitive simple robots, only 1325 comes to mind.

Entire robot was literally 'elevator goes up, elevator goes down, drive.' Passive 2 stack ramp and passive elevator clamps lead to 3 consistent capped and noodled stacks a match.

Originally Posted by echin

1519 is an example of this, though they had a can claw and can grabbing arms. They were the first seed and winners of all three district events they went to as well as the NE district championship and had an incredibly consistent 3 tote auto.

1519 was incredible, but they're not even close to an MCC.

[echin]

Originally Posted by Gregor

1519 was incredible, but they're not even close to an MCC.

True. They are an example of the concept I was reffering to though, just extremely well executed and thought out.

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by IKE

Assumptions are that one of the primary goals of the MCC is to play in elims (not necessarily win on Einstein), and your team has mid-pack to lower fabrication resources.

Please list your assumptions, strategy to seed high, estimate of a winning score, and what robot design elements would achieve this score.

I personally usually assume for this thread that the goal is to seed high enough to be either a Alliance Captain or a pretty early pick. I would appreciate this year if we kept towards that philosophy as opposed to getting into a KOP Robot/Cheesecaking discussion. Not that it isn't a viable concept, but I think it has been covered at length elsewhere.

Issac,
I always enjoy this thread. Our team uses the MCC approach during our strategy sessions as a baseline performance indicator to beat. However, it looks like you bumped it up a notch to increase the goal to possible alliance captain. That's our goal, but I usually assume the MCC is a sure elimination pick.

Looking at our notes just after kick-off, we assumed the following MCC features.

- Elevator robot that can handle both totes and containers
- Prefers to play at HP station
- Must be able to co-op in any combination which essentially means you can put one tote on an existing stack of 3
- Must be able to cap at least a stack of 4 totes (made by you or your alliance)
- Scoring goal: 2 four stacks with container and litter (60 points) or co-op plus one stack (70 points)

As it turned out, that version of an MCC could have been an alliance captain at some competitions. Plus, I thought this robot was fairly difficult as a minimum.

David

[Woolly]

Assumptions:

• For an MCC, seeding high isn't a concern.
• Coop isn't going to get you picked for eliminations.
• Looking at the regional events we attended (Greater Kansas City, Oklahoma), to be in the top 24, your robot needs to average more than 18 points per match. So that's 9 totes or more on the scoring platform, or a stack of 3 with a can on it.

Woolly's MCC#1: In Memory of Dozer
Goal: Average 9+ totes.
This design relies primarily on a competent driver, and a decent drive-train, and not much else. The chassis has a wedge on the front to be able to break up the landfill so that the totes can be pushed onto the scoring platform easily.
Drivetrain: AM14U2 Tank drive, 2 CIM
Positives: Simple, easy to improve, works well with other landfill bots as breaking up the landfill usually improves their output, easy to improve.
Negatives: Relies heavily on the driver, Makes a mess on the field potentially slowing alliance partners trying to pick up cans or do Co-op, takes up a lot of space on the scoring platform.
Potential Improvements: replace wedge with roller intake (may even be able to be based on 2014 designs), can-burglars.

Woolly's MCC#2: Diddy Kong
Goal: Average 1 stack of 4 with a bin on top
Imagine 4522's robot. Now remove the seat belt. Replace the H-drive with an AM14U2. Remove the can burglars. Give the drivers less practice time due to the MCC building team having less resources to be able to get it done in decent time. Also make the controls a lot more convoluted for similar reasons.
Something similar could be accomplished with having the ramp not built into the robot, and that would make it more advantageous to add a powered intake at a later date.
Drivetrain: AM14U2 Tank drive, 2 CIM
Postives: Better learning experience than MCC#1, relatively easy to make into a regional winning robot, shouldn't disturb alliance partners.
Negatives: Still pretty complex, requires good communication between driver 1 and 2, requires much better programmers than MCC#1, may be less consistent due to complexity and cans rolling off the stack.
Potential Improvements: See 4522's robot. Also, powered intake.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Woolly

.. to be in the top 24, your robot needs to average more than 18 points per match.

Top 24 doesn't meet the MCC description. Top 12 would be closer to the target. There's no way a herding robot can reach this level.

[IKE]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Top 24 doesn't meet the MCC description. Top 12 would be closer to the target. There's no way a herding robot can reach this level.

Being the "24th best robot" is often a high probability of being one of the best teams watching Saturday afternoon.
My observations are that what I would consider top 24 often contain about 20 or so teams that actually end up playing in playoffs/elims. this could be inaccuracy of scouting or differing objectives or... Most years, top 16 or so are a pretty good lock for playing (this isn't necessarily the top 16 ranked teams). 2012 was a odd year where a lot of really good "long bots" sat out Saturday afternoon due to the high bonus and desire for a short wheelbase 3rd that year.
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So,my thought would be MCCs for this year. the first was a pretty simple robot that could make stacks of 2 from landfill or HP station (when I assumed the totes would land flat). This bot would start the season making around 3 stacks of 2, and eventually get to maybe as many as 5 or 6 stacks of 2 with some practice. I saw a few of these robots in Michigan this year, and several of them did well at the district level either being a low level captain or late first round/early 2nd round pick. 5517 is a super clean example of this. The robot looks fantastic, but is essentially a 4-bar arm that is powered by pneumatics with a slide through tote loader. They ranked relatively high at both district events, and were low level captains at both events. Pretty good for rookie team.

Why I am a fan of 4-bar arm over Elevators/lifts for MCC: I saw a ton of well intended, but ultimately flawed elevator executions this year. Any sort of sliding mechanical element that has to resist a cantilevered force tends to have racking, friction, or flex issues. The 4-Bar has less trouble and is often easier to manufacture.
There were some really good elevator kits utilized this year, which I personally think falls within the easy to manufacture (purchase orders are pretty easy to make), but to fab an elevator from raw material is a bit tricky.