Now that the build season is done...

[Petey]

I'm curious. Having looked at the robot showcase for a while now, I am surprised that many teams went for the 2x multiplier while apparently forgoing any attempt to manipulate the small balls.

Hence the poll.

--Petey

[Tom Bottiglieri]

i dont understand why people go for the 2x, but not the small balls

as far as i know, 0 * 2 = 0

[Solace]

people went for the 2x balls because they assumed that everyone else would go for the 5 point balls. and nobody did.

this just brings us back to the number one rule of FIRST robot concepts - never assume that you can leave an important game function to an alliance partner.

the teams that actually did go for the small balls pretty much have it made - even if they are only mediocre at the job, they are still part of a very small array of robots with that vital ability.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Solace

the teams that actually did go for the small balls pretty much have it made - even if they are only mediocre at the job, they are still part of a very small array of robots with that vital ability.

[OneAngryDaisy]

Those of us who went for the small balls (and have a functional drivetrain) should be an valuable commodity during alliance selections... but then, who knows what the game will end up to be like?

we're officialy an *endangered species*..

[Tom Bottiglieri]

i still think the small ball "catchers" will win. Those who do that + hang or effectively stop others from hanging will be hard to beat.

[edomus]

I still think that pushing the balls into the player stations will be as effective as capturing them and then releasing them

[ngreen]

Don't assume anything yet. The robots you have seen are just a small section of all the robots. There are 900 different robots, well as least 899 (sorry 60 and 254). There is probably around 1/9 to 1/8 that have been posted. There will be many more that will not manipulate the 2x ball and/or hang. These were just the more cool features this year and gave a team a good reason to show off their work. I expect to see many more that focus on small balls, whether that be by choice or by default. It will be the easier of tasks to complete. I'm not saying it's easy to be good at it but it is easy enough to be mediocre. Especially if your robot complete no other task.

[Jonathan M.]

We can manipulate balls, but that wasn't our focus when building. I do think that teams that are really good at handling the small balls, will be very usefull, and the fewer the teams the better the chances of being picked in the finals. I know I probably would. Well, if they were at least slightly good at it I would. I just think it will be interesting to see how things turn out.

[Petey]

Originally Posted by ToMMan b182

i still think the small ball "catchers" will win. Those who do that + hang or effectively stop others from hanging will be hard to beat.

I hope you're right in part and wrong in part--our robot is unable to hang from the bar. We wasted nearly three weeks of the build season infighting between the subgroups to decide if we would play with small balls or the big balls. By the time we were done, we decided we'd have to give up hanging.

But we've got some pretty good human players (if I might be less-than-humble about my own abilities) who just might have some tricks up their sleeves...

--Petey

[Petey]

Originally Posted by edomus

I still think that pushing the balls into the player stations will be as effective as capturing them and then releasing them

I must respectfully disagree. We thought that as well, but when we tried earlier in the season we found that it was impossible to manipulate balls by merely pushing them. As soon as your robot slowed, turned, or otherwise changed its course, the balls rolled in every which way in an uncontrolled fashion.

--Petey

[Crop-Circles]

The problem with gathering balls is that you don't want to waste time gathering to many. The human player can only handle so many, so gathering a large amount will likely be redundent. Besides, from our testing, we found that with a proper "plow", it was not too difficult to gather balls into our corral. Plus, a simpler system means we devoted more to other aspects of the game. With a good enough driver, I think a plow can gather just as well.

[edomus]

Originally Posted by Petey

I must respectfully disagree. We thought that as well, but when we tried earlier in the season we found that it was impossible to manipulate balls by merely pushing them. As soon as your robot slowed, turned, or otherwise changed its course, the balls rolled in every which way in an uncontrolled fashion.

--Petey

Our robots shape should help this.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by ToMMan b182

didn't i hear that you guys completely redesigned your bot following the UTC scrimmage?