What It Takes to be Competitive

[Raul]

Since we are a week away from embarking on another intense build season in our quest to build a great robot, I want to discuss what it will take to be competitive.

In my opinion, there are several key skills (or you can call them assets) that a team can have that allow them to produce very competitive robot performances. And the better you can integrate these skills with the students, the better the team will be.
I think we all realize, that you can have a great robot and match performances without having a good team, and you can have a great team and not have a good robot. We all know this because inspiration (the “I” in FIRST) comes in many forms, which has been discussed in other threads. I just want to list those which lead to good robot performances.

I will attempt to list these skills and let you guys pick at them.

1) Ability to analyze the game rules and determine early on what it will take to win consistently. This usually entails coming up with a unique robot capability that if implemented correctly will give that robot an advantage over most others.
2) Ability to develop an overall robot concept that implements one or more winning capabilities very well.
3) Ability to design and fabricate almost any part and ability to design and fabricate unique parts better than most teams. This is especially true if these capabilities are within the team and they do not need to outsource the work.
4) Dedication to details, quality and reliability such that the robot rarely breaks down during a match and performs the functions it was meant to perform.
5) Ability to recognize yours and your opponent’s robot strengths and weaknesses. This mostly comes form scouting (in the case of your opponents) and practice (in the case of your robot).
6) Ability to determine multiple strategies that take advantage of your robot’s strengths and your opponent’s weaknesses. And strategies that minimize your robot’s weaknesses and your opponent’s strengths.
7) Lots of practice with the robot doing the moves needed to execute many different strategic moves. It helps to have drivers that are cool under pressure and learn quickly. And of course, the more competitive experience, the better.
8) Good Luck – well, we do not really control this one; so it is not a skill.

Did I miss any?

The more of these skills you have, the more consistently good your match performances will be. If winning matches is important to you, think of these as you establish the plans for your team.

Raul