Last call for bold predictions before competition begins!

[Joe G.]

The top 25 teams in FRC (measured however you would like -- FRCTop25, Looking Forward top 25, whatever) will have a greater percentage of low bar challenged robots than FRC as a whole.

In the elimination rounds, over 50% of low bar capable robots will never use the low bar.

Captures will occur in fewer than 30% of qualification matches across all weeks of regionals/districts. Of these captures, more than half will be achieved entirely through low goal scoring.

Matches in which all three robots make a high goal auto shot will occur, on average, less than three times per regional. Multi-ball autos don't count, but these will also be rarer than many are expecting, much rarer than they were in 2014

An 8th seed will make Einstien, and make a deep run there.

So will a rookie, and not as a 4th team.

No robots with Rhino tread modules will make Einstien.

A record number of backup robots will be used, both at championships and at regionals/districts

A highly favored alliance will loose in the finals due to a roboRIO brownout related error.

Scaling will start the season rare, but become practically a necessity for einstein teams.

Related, a cheesecakeable scaling device will emerge later in the season.

Across all week 0.5 and week 1 events, the number of triple tortugas will approach double digits.

A robot will successfully, if roughly, perform a barrel roll crossing the ramparts. People will be talking about it for years.

A majority of robot redesigns this year are going to be focused on swapping from a variable position to a fixed position shooter. The number of batter shooters will increase dramatically as the season goes on.

The category C defenses will never be used past the divisional quarterfinals.

Somebody is going to do something stupid with plastic pneumatic tanks, resulting in a hard impact to them during a defense crossing, catastrophic failure of the tank, and will subsequently re-open debate about these things.

For the first time since an equivalent statement was added in 2012, FIRST will act on the blue box under section 3.1.4 of the game manual, re-scaling the tower strength for championships. People will be disgruntled by this.

People will like this game less in April than they do right now. Reasons cited will be similar to Aerial Assist: robot fatigue, scoring/penalty inconsistencies, in addition to a less severe repeat of 2010's tendency to cause robots designed for the tunnel to blur together when viewed from a distance.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

The top 25 teams in FRC (measured however you would like -- FRCTop25, Looking Forward top 25, whatever) will have a greater percentage of low bar challenged robots than FRC as a whole.

I almost guarantee it.

Originally Posted by Joe G.

Captures will occur in fewer than 30% of qualification matches across all weeks of regionals/districts. Of these captures, more than half will be achieved entirely through low goal scoring.

I'd wager > 75% of all captures will be done primarily with low goal scoring (5+ balls).

Originally Posted by Joe G.

No robots with Rhino tread modules will make Einstien.

That will be the biggest surprise of them all. Due to just the sheer mass quantity of them, I think like last year with mecanums, it's just bound to happen.

Originally Posted by Joe G.

Related, a cheesecakeable scaling device will emerge later in the season.

I sure would like to know how that will happen. I keep hearing whispers about cheesecake lifting, but that sounds crazier than cheesecake can burglary last year, which I don't think ever happened.

Originally Posted by Joe G.

A robot will successfully, if roughly, perform a barrel roll crossing the ramparts. People will be talking about it for years.

That's a bold strategy Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.

Originally Posted by Joe G.

The number of batter shooters will increase dramatically as the season goes on.

This also in; the amount of defense played on said batter shooters will also increase as the season goes on.

Originally Posted by Joe G.

The category C defenses will never be used past the divisional quarterfinals.

I hope that's not the case. C plans to be the first one we damage.

[Hjelstrom]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

I sure would like to know how that will happen. I keep hearing whispers about cheesecake lifting, but that sounds crazier than cheesecake can burglary last year, which I don't think ever happened.

Here are some cheesecaked canburglars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssRfFHOz2tM
Cheesecaked lifting sounds crazy though.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by Hjelstrom

Here are some cheesecaked canburglars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssRfFHOz2tM
Cheesecaked lifting sounds crazy though.

Which robot? There were like four can burglars in that video.

[Sperkowsky]

1. There will be a Tortuga on Einstein.

2. A regional will be won without a single high goal

3. There will be at least one backup robot playing on Einstein

4. Not a single Rhino Track drive will be on Einstein

5. The winning alliance on Einstein will have 3 hanging robots

6. Not a single 3 ball auton will be completed

7. There will be at least one IFI team on the winning alliance

8. There will be one robot that will catch on fire during elims at a regional

9. There will be an instance where a robot landed on top of another.

Is This Bold enough for you?

[Edxu]

Usage of the Category C defenses will be almost non-existent in Qualification matches, but will be used in EVERY match in Eliminations.

There will be at least one match of closed-cycle Stronghold.

[matthewdenny]

On average at least 1 match in elimination rounds will be affected by electrical systems failing.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

No robots with Rhino tread modules will make Einstien.

No robots with swerve drives will make it to Einstein.

[Procolsaurus]

The 2016 Palmetto regional will be the most watched regional during week 0.5.

It will also be the most watched palmetto regional ever.

[Anthony Galea]

Here's my set of predictions:

1) There will be at least one regional where the event is decided by a crossing that is missed by a referee, causing Chief Delphi to grab their torches and pitchforks.

2) There will be at least three alliances in the top three seeds throughout the season that picks a random third robot, only for their capture to fail because that third bot rolls off the batter when they try to park on it.

3) More than 70% of winning alliances will capture in the finals matches that they win.

4) At the Championship, out of the 24 robots that play on Einstein, there will be less than 10 that scale.

5) Barring a robot comms issue, every match on Einstein will have a breach on both sides.

6) The Einstein winning alliance will have at least one robot that does not go under the low bar.

7) The most high goals a single team will score in a match is 10.

8) 1678 will be on Einstein again, moving into the sole owner of second place for the record of consecutive Einstein appearances (177 is in 1st, 1678 and 67 are tied for 2nd)

9) Michigan will have their 4th HoF team.

10) The following countries will be represented on Einstein: USA, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Australia.

11) A district championship winning alliance will have two of their alliance members on the same alliance on Einstein.

12) A VERY controversial call will knock an alliance out in some level above the division semifinals.

[ks68]

The rough terrain will be the least common defense this season.

[carpedav000]

Several winning alliances at the regional level will be composed of three low goal only robots.

Cheesecaked climbing devices will be somewhat common at state/dcmp

179, 33, and 1477 will be on Einstein

2 Indiana teams will make it to Einstein

118 and 4334 will beat 1114 and 2056 at GTR

[Jared Russell]

Bold prediction:

More than half of the predictions in this thread (as of the time of this posting) will be wrong.

[Bluman56]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

Bold prediction:

More than half of the predictions in this thread (as of the time of this posting) will be wrong.

If a bold prediction predicts that a bold prediction is wrong, does it make it a bold prediction?

I think we need to amp up the boldness.

[efoote868]

The starting STRENGTH of the TOWER will not be increased.