Thoughts on driving in FIRST Stronghold

[Collin Stiers]

like many others here we had issues with the sally port, but our biggest issue was running over boulders, spotting boulders and communicating positions was a huge part of the effort of our drive team

[JR0405]

I think the three things that caused the most problems were boulders, communication, and vision. I think the biggest problems with the boulders was them getting stuck in the low bar and getting stuck under the robot. Communication was a issue because there were 2 driver stations on one side of the tower and 1 on the other making it difficult to communicate to both of your alliance partners at once. The last major problem was like many have said vision especially for smaller low bar robots like us where the only thing we could see when behind the Sally port was the tips of our shooter wheels. There was also an instance when we were playing defense from driver station 3 and we went all the way around the tower to play defense and I could not see our robot at all since the tower sticks out past the wall.

[arc25565]

We were having many problems with vision especially when coming through the sally port. However, we were able to borrow flexible landscaping flags from another team and attached them to the back of the robot. This was immensely helpful in seeing our robots position on the other side of the field. I have included a picture below. Thanks again team 4627.

[Strykker]

Originally Posted by arc25565

We were having many problems with vision especially when coming through the sally port. However, we were able to borrow flexible landscaping flags from another team and attached them to the back of the robot. This was immensely helpful in seeing our robots position on the other side of the field. I have included a picture below. Thanks again team 4627.

We had a similar solution to that problem. We went with 1/8" polycarb pieces that we cut long enough to provide visibility while also attaching them in such a way as to not extend beyond 15" while crossing the low bar. We also color coded them with gaff tape, yellow on one and blue on the other, so that our driver could easily see what orientation the robot was in.

As a bonus, it turns out they actually gave a lot of character to our robot and the team loved that unique and simple feature. We were actually able to give out some of our spare Wigglydoodads (as they were later officially christened) to other teams at champs as well.

[samfruth]

Vision flags are the best thing known to driver-kind. That is all.

[NShep98]

Well, it was my second year on the team and my first as a driver.

Vision was not as much of an issue, having an arm that can raise and lower as we need it to.

Things that did cause trouble include:

• Driving over boulders
• Trying to see past our own castle to defend (on the left driver station)
• Actually getting the drawbridge and sally port open (without dislodging our climbing hook)
• Lining up to climb and doing it in time
• Those darn dividers getting in the way.
• The wear and tear of being the designated "defense-runner-overer"

Things that were fun include:

• Running into everyone to keep them from shooting
• Every single time we ran over a defense like it was flat ground (minus the flying part)
• Getting those perfect partners that actually do what they say they will
• The one scale we finally got to work

The negatives list is longer, but I genuinely loved this game.

[Gravity]

We had some trouble with backing over balls and vision from the taller defenses. Other than that it was a lot of fun getting to play aggressive defense .

[frcguy]

Originally Posted by Gravity

We had some trouble with backing over balls and vision from the taller defenses. Other than that it was a lot of fun getting to play aggressive defense .

Seconded . As a drive coach, I learned camera poles are great for making strategic decisions.

[Sohaib]

Not as bad as I originally thought after watching the game reveal - visibility atleast. I remember one game, we chose a draw bridge as a defense, and I couldn't see a good quarter of the field. The nice thing was, we planned for this, with a really long controller wire, and more often than not I was walking around the full width of our driver station.

We used a camera only for going back through the drawbridge.

My operator would also be watching the robot, and let me know if I don't notice something. Also, our robot, in the configuration it would be in throughout most of the match, can be seen over the sally port, which was actually designed in.

One of the biggest inconveniences were the boulders, driving around them, having them in awkward positions, trying not to incur tech fouls accidentally taking a boulder over during a crossing.

Hard to play defense, you don't really know when bumpers are over the vertical projection of the outer works if they are anywhere near it, or in the neutral zone.

The one use for a spy I saw personally - not for us, but for say an outerworks shooter, was for the spy to give a signal (simple as a thumbs up) when the bumpers are in the outerworks - hence the robot is protected by defense. This did not apply to our strategy.

Edit: Oh, and the batter dividers were always fun

[Peyton Yeung]

Originally Posted by Sohaib

Not as bad as I originally thought after watching the game reveal - visibility atleast. I remember one game, we chose a draw bridge as a defense, and I couldn't see a good quarter of the field. The nice thing was, we planned for this, with a really long controller wire, and more often than not I was walking around the full width of our driver station.

I'd be careful of long controller wires. T11 of the manual states that if you are more than 1/2 a player station away from your own player station as an operator it's a yellow card.

[TheModMaster8]

Being the driver this year, not having a camera was one of the hardest things, the Plexiglass killed me every flipping time.

[AnnaCC]

I enjoyed driving Stronghold a lot. As my rookie year, Recycle Rush will always hold a special place in my heart, but the lack of an endgame or any robot-to-robot interaction definitely made it less interesting when compared to 2016. Stronghold was a game that kept drive teams on their feet throughout the match; there was a lot to pay attention to and quick decision making was very important.
I will second the comments about visibility and boulders. If you got turned around behind the drawbridge or accidentally bulldozed a boulder you could lose a lot of valuable seconds!

[Kyle Reese]

This was my first (and unfortunately last) year as a driver. When Stronghold was first revealed, I knew that with a lot of the top tier robots, it would come down to driver skill to determine which was really the best. Even with the pressure to perform well, I had an absolute blast driving this year.

The hardest part of driving in Stronghold was definitely the vision issue. (Defense is a close second. Darn you 4607, your defense in Carver was insane) Personally, I never had a problem with the portcullis, but the drawbridge and sally port were annoying, especially when there was a hidden boulder that you either ended up driving over or weren't aware of to collect.Granted, these problems could have easily been fixed by some smart thinking from the team, either during build or afterwards.

Stronghold was a wonderful game to drive in, and I wouldn't wish for any other.

[BrendanM]

This year's driving (other than 2015) really seems like it went back to how it usually is. Outside of 2014 (which I thought was fantastic) there was the standard: obstacles, pushing matches and the ever present need for nimble movement. Other than the visibility issues with the portcullis and sallyport, which were not always present, driving this year should have been relatively simple, assuming you had competent drivers. Interestingly enough, the design problem of creating a robot that could successfully defeat the obstacles was unusually high. Clearly FIRST wants to promote creative thinking however the game usually leaves room for new or underprivileged teams. Compared to other years, this games does not seem to allow a more or less stock AM chassis to compete at a super high level. That being said, this hard fact doesn't seem to have hindered many teams and in fact seems to have pushed many teams to accomplish more than they would have otherwise expected.

TL;DR This year SHOULD have been pretty simple driving.