Predicitions For The Rest Of Us

[Andrew]

1. A robot that can reliably take the 6" steps against opposition and hang will win regionals/nationals.

2. No robot that "caps" as its primary strategy will make it into the finals in any regional or nationals.

3. No robot with 12.5" wheels will make it into finals in any regional or nationals.

4. 75% of all robots with 12.5" wheels will have a badly degraded drive system by the end of the first regional.

5. Scouting will be more important this year than any other year. Every strategy (except for the one in #1 above) has a hole in it. Proper planning (even by a box on wheels) can negate almost any strategy.

6. Because hanging is so devastating, those teams who can do it will need to find a way to get onto the middle platform in autonomy. Otherwise, they will have to get onto the platform against active opposition.

7. Over 50% of all matches will have one or more robots on their sides/backs before the end of the match.

[Joel Glidden]

Going out on a limb here...

Prediction: Things will get broken.

[Rich Wong]

4. REFEREES WILL HAVE THEIR HANDS FULL!
3. In some games, there will be more penalty flags than balls on the floor.
2. Ball popping maybe common and a crowd pleaser!
1. 13 inch ball travelling at 10m/s becomes lethal to robots

[Stephen Kowski]

two things that will decide the game...small balls & being able to hang imho.....2X will have an effect, but not a huge one.....

[Craig]

What is the big problem with 12.5" wheels? Why will no robots with such wheels be succesful or have degraded drive systems? Is it merely because these wheels ride up on the small balls? Please elaborate

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Craig

What is the big problem with 12.5" wheels? Why will no robots with such wheels be succesful or have degraded drive systems? Is it merely because these wheels ride up on the small balls? Please elaborate

The 12.5" wheels offer a bigger lever arm than most teams are used to. This will potentially allow larger forces to be transferred up the line to the remainder of the drive system than the smaller wheels. This will result in either very big currents through the motor windings or excessive stresses in drive system parts. Both will lead to rapid degradation of drive systems.

Also, the high ground clearance with most 12.5" wheel teams will result in high centering on balls or make the robots easy to push around. Further, by raising center of gravity, robots with the 12.5" wheels will be more likely to tip over when approaching the 6" step.

Teams which have anticipated these issues can design around them.

[Craig]

Thanks for that follow up Andrew. We sure found out the hard way that the larger wheels do transfer an increased amount of torque through the drive system. After stripping one of our nylon gears we upgraded to steel gears all around. Hopefully this upgrade and our unique lowrider design will overcome the 12.5" wheels of doom!! Thanks, again

[Jon Anderson]

-2X will be vastly underrated
-Purple balls will be overrated
-Hanging will win most games
-Defense will not win
-OOB will be the greatest alliance.

[David66]

Originally Posted by Andrew

The 12.5" wheels offer a bigger lever arm than most teams are used to. This will potentially allow larger forces to be transferred up the line to the remainder of the drive system than the smaller wheels. This will result in either very big currents through the motor windings or excessive stresses in drive system parts. Both will lead to rapid degradation of drive systems.

Rapid degredation? We have driven on our 12.5 wheels more in the preseason than they will probably ever get driven in the competition season...no issues thus far...i uess it will be a problem if you didnt plan for it...

[Greg Perkins]

all i say is i hope first has some ladders to remove robots from that bar.

[Munkaboo]

Originally Posted by Greg Perkins

all i say is i hope first has some ladders to remove robots from that bar.

They lower the bar

[Matt D]

I think:

FIRST will make one major rule change after the first weekend of Regionals (penalties maybe).

The best alliance will be a ball gatherer paired with a multiplier ball robot, but hanging will ultimately determine the winner.

There will be at least 1 team that wins 3 regionals.

Hanging from the carpet is more important than most people think.

HP balls will fly all over the place, hitting judges, and probably even Dean Kamen.

Alliances that win will have two excellent robots.

Finally, none of these will actually happen because everything changes once regionals begin.

[IronSlayTallica]

~Robots will be found to be less durable against... projectiles than their builders believe them to be.
~THE SCOUTS WILL BE REVERED AS GODS!!!
~There will have to be lots of communication between alliances, drive team members, pits and scouts. Can we say headsets?
~Lots of robots will end up tipped over from trying to climb.
~Rounds of Kick Ball will be played outside on the green at Nats in honor of such an awesome game
~Everything that could possibly go wrong, can and will all at once.
~Prices will still be outrageous at every competition.
~THE SCOUTS WILL BE REVERED AS GODS!!!
~Awesome times to be had and tons of friends to be made.
~It will break. It will always break.

[pras870]

Hanging will be a big part of the game this year. At recent scrimmages, teams that could hang most likely came out to be victorious.

The 2x ball does not seem to be as big a factor as many think. This could simply be because at the scrimmages, a lot of teams did not attempt to cap the goals.

Herding doesn't seem to be as big a factor as many thought either. Hanging and being able to control the ramp seemed to be a deciding factor in many matches.

Human Players shooting will be an advantage. Since herding did not seem to be initiated, so being able to get the balls that you start with in the goals will be a big key.

Robots able to go up the side of the ramp will have an advantage. Many teams during the scrimmage seemed to go up the stairs and maneuver around the stationary goal.

Hopefully we'll see a lot of good teams at Nationals. I have a feeling that the winning alliance at Nationals and Regionals will have 2 robots that can cap/hang, and 1 that will be be able to herd balls. Because as everyone knows, in the finals, stategies tend to change. Things that seemed minuscule during regular competion seem to be prized possessions in the finals.

P.S. Becca- whether you like it or not, you will see me at Regionals and Nationals, so get used to me. Just a shame you can't even be civil with me.

Mike's thoughts on the issues, treat them well

[Yan Wang]

Herding
There may be 1 cherry picker or ball drop collector robot at a regional that can quickly and effectively (think 121 in 2002) get the ball to the human player. Most robots will fail at cherry picking... Kinda like stacking last year. The most effective herders will be ones with large collapsable wings and a fast drive - the balls are everywhere and you don't have to fight for them. The 10 pt ball, past autonomous, will be utterly useless. It will be a waste of time to try to collect them when there are almost 40+ purple balls on the field.

Multiplier Ball
Again, one robot at a regional may be effective at this. Other times, robots will find problems with their center of gravity and having enough time to manipulate the ball before an opponent pushes them. A robot that can do this will not do exceedingly well in qualifying but will be crucial in the finals.

Hanging
Hangers who can do it from the side are going to have an easier time hanging. Any mechanism which takes more than 15 seconds to hang from start to off the ground will be fairly ineffective in the finals. Speed is everything - if you can jump up there (the defender will have a fairly tough time maneuvering on the small hdpe platform) and shoot up the mechanism quick, you can do this in the last 20 sec (or less) of the game, just like the battle for the hill last year. KotH is a waste of time... why not just spend more time herding balls? 10 balls = 50 pts = 1 hanging robot

etc
Autonomous is very important. The extra 30 seconds between end of autonomous and when the ball release triggers if the bonus ball isn't knocked off could let someone like me herd 4-6 balls. Add the 6 balls in the alliance to start and that can be 12 balls in the mobile goal for 60 pts! Miss two and you've still got 50! Human players will be EXTREMELY important this year. They can easily be worth more than hanging and deserve great respect if they do their job well. That's why that 1 capper in the finals will be awesome. I also think that during the finals, the lowest scores will appear.

Also, teams that used the 12" kit wheels will find it incredibly hard to make it to the platform if someone's already there. I imagine some amusing flips to happen this year. Tank treads like ones on Tribotec will be most effective.

Actually, one more thing. The Canadian SUPER Regional will be awesome.