what was the best shooting mechanism for 2016?

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by scott.smith

Also 148, the robot with the highest opr at champs, had the highest opr. Catapults are good.

Those are two examples. They certainly don't constitute a proof, especially if you're basing it solely on OPR.

Why don't we do something similar and look at all the captain and first selections that made Einstein- not necessarily representative of the best, but pretty close.

• Newton 217, 3476
• Curie 694, 3339
• Archimedes 1501, 1986
• Galileo 195, 987
• Carson 2122, 2052
• Tesla 2056, 1690
• Carver 330, 2481
• Hopper 148, 1678

Hooded Single Flywheel Shooters:

• 217, 3476, 694, 3339, 1501, 2056, 2481, 1678

Catapults:

• 1986, 195, 2122, 2052, 148

Double Flywheel:

• 987 (horizontal), 1690 (vertical)

Linear Punch:

• 330

This data could be the way it is for multiple reasons.

1. These are the best kinds of shooters
2. These are the most common types of shooters
3. These are the shooters that happened to make Einstein

But if you look closer at how they got there, you'll start to notice trends.
9/16 of these teams had inarguably high release points. 5/16 couldn't go under the low bar as a result of that.

These teams prioritized certain objectives, and met them 100%. It's obvious when looking at 1678 and 1690's designs that they anticipated needed a high release point, but also needed to be able to get a solo breach. They have the resources to execute that at 100%, so they did.

Other awesome teams on Einstein had other priorities above high release point.

2122 showed up at their first regional just making low goals. They then improved by adding a climber and then eventually their extremely accurate high goal shot. They did, however, shoot from almost the ground.

1986 had a catapult, which allowed for a relatively high release point that would get over most blockers while still going under the low bar.

217, 3476, and 1501 eschewed the low bar in favor of a harder to block shot and a climber.

The type of shooter you choose isn't about which is objectively "the best", but rather which one fits your priorities and resources the best.