Sharing information - not a good idea?

[philso]

Originally Posted by bduddy

In past FRC games, most teams have shared information about their own robots fairly freely with other teams, both to assist scouting and just as a general courtesy. However, in this game, alliances have a direct ability, through choosing defenses, to affect how difficult it is for the other alliance to gain points. Therefore, if I was in the pits and heard "What defenses can your robot cross?" or even "What does that arm do?" early on Friday, I'd think twice before answering... especially if I glanced at the schedule and saw that the team asking was a future opponent.

Any thoughts? Am I just overly competitive, or is this going to be a real issue?

I don't feel that this year is any different from previous years. What people are sharing are concepts, not detailed design drawings and code. For example, in 2013, many people emulated the concept of the small-wheel shooter. Some were very successful. Some were not successful.

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

Only question 2826 asks in the pit when it comes to scouting is, "Can I take a picture of tour robot?".

Last year we also asked if teams were willing to be cheesecaked but only at champs did we ask that.

Teams are going to tell you what they designed their robot to do not what it actually does. On field performance is all that matters to us. So you might not be willing to say what defenses your robot can cross in the pits but you'll tell me every match you're in anyways.

My older son used to use his commanding presence and asked some teams "what are your robot's weaknesses?" The funny thing is that most of them made an honest effort to answer (maybe not accurately, as Eric notes).