Do you think a practice robot is needed to compete?

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

Allen, that sounds like a great reason to build a practice bot.

One of my favorite practice bot anecdotes was in 2014, a week or so before World Championships. A bunch of California teams brought their practice bots to our field to practice. We invited some other great California teams (who unfortunately had not qualified for the Championship) to bring their now-retired robots to help fill out the field. Our drive teams all scrimmaged together for hours. They went over every possible scenario, practiced beating defense, inbounding, perfecting positioning - you name it. (It must have paid off, since there wound up being 3 Einstein teams and one Division Finalist in the building that afternoon).

But even disregarding the future on-field success, I thought it was really cool. It was a unique bonding experience for the teams in the region. Hopefully we will do the same thing in 2016 (2015's game didn't have quite the same dynamic, so most teams could practice alone).