Winning Robot Strategy

[Rpifirst]

Im going to say that there is no one supreme robot design. A great allance would be made of robots that could hang. A robot that can catch the balls and two other robots who could empty the balls into it in auto mode. As well these other robots should be able to control the 2X multiplyers.

[T967]

I know the reason teams in St. Louis have done so well is the fact that strategy comes first. It doesn't matter what robots are there, it's just how you use their strongest abilities. As a team we have placed very well at all regionals and nationals but maybe once were paired with a top 5 team ever.


[size=2]Last thing to keep in mind for alliance strategy; just because a top 15 team doesn't have an impressive robot doesn't make them a bad partner, their strategy might just help you win the whole shabang. SIZE]

[Trinora]

The first best strategy is communication. A meeting between teams proves more effective than being able to decap and hang and capture small balls and give the head judge chocolates. Even if you (or your partner) are merely a box with wheels that can move occasionally, there is way to work it to your advantage. It also helps to anticipate your opponent's moves, and go through every match on a case by case basis.


However, I disagree with the statement "Do everything you can the best you can". The most successful robots could do only do one or two game functions, yet they did -function- consistantly. A small ball manipulator with the capacity to cap and decap seems the most successful mix of functions that scores the most points. Good advice for teams that attempted to do everything: Stick with your best attibute and work on making it better. EG: 571 Paragon had an excellent small ball manipulator, alright big ball manipulator, and a little used, complicated winch system for hanging. They had trouble functioning with the cumbersome winch, and lost every match until they removed it. Their most effective matches are where they herded all the small balls on their side fo the feild, and then picked up the 2x and capped the stationary goal.

So stick to the basics and expound on your best virtues when it comes to elims.

[Petey]

I was talking about this with a couple people the other day. We figured that the best possible alliance would be between a tall robot that could cap the stationary goal and hang from the bar and a short robot that could gather balls very efficiently and cap the mobile goal.

Interesting.

--Petey

[RyanMcE]

As the member of team 824 said, the winners of the Portland regional (429, 1031, 957) complimented each other's abilities.

Team 492, a small ball gatherer and capper, ended up seeded #1, after going 8-1 in qualifications. We were actaully helped out by oposing robots hanging, as we had, by far, the highest ranking score in the top 15. With just one opponent hanging, we could easily win with just six balls in the goal with it capped. We often had as many as ten, and one time we had twelve balls in the big goal before capping it.

1031 was the most consistent hanger at the regional. In seven out of nine matches, they ended up hanging. They were easily our first pick alliance partner.

957 hung 5 out of the 9 times, tied for second place with a plethora of other worthy teams. They were just the lucky ones that the other teams overlooked until we got to pick again.

In elimination matches, both 957 and 1031 performed admirably, although 753 (picked by the number 6 alliance, and overcoming two higher ranked alliances to meet us in the finals) outdueled them in one game, toppling them.

492 had trouble only once with a robot harassing us as we tried to cap the big goal, but we still won that match due to many 5 pointers and a hanging robot.

Now that I've said all that, here are the conclusions that I draw from our experiences:

The best alliances will consist of robots that, in comibnation, do all three things well: hanging, small ball colection, and big ball capping.

Thats who we won the PNW regional.

See you in Atlanta!

~Ryan

[Greg Perkins]

Originally Posted by Alex Ko

I watched the VCU finals, then the rest of the Oregon regional... from what I could see, I think the best team would be:
one robot with good ball collecting and a good human player
along with another robot that can cap the stationary goal from behind, and then quickly hang.

At VCU, Buzz had amazing ball collecting ability, and a great human player. But I didn't see many of their partners taking advantage of capping a full goal.

I think in general the cap-and-hang robots will dominate the preliminary rounds. A cap-and-hang team should be able to score 100 pts on their own (5 small balls in stationary goal, 2X cap, and hang).

BUZZ was at BAE

i think the best alliance, is someone who can control the 2xball, and both hang.

Defense was vary important in the finals - knocking your oponents on there back is a good way to reduce there score, and that happened a lot at PNW. If all you can do is hang - all an opponant has to do is prevent you from hanging either by getting there first and playing king of the hill or letting you get ther FIRST and running up the ball score.

I think the finals in Atlanta are going to be very interesting.

Strategy twist at portland.


IF the balls aren't triggered, uncap your mobile goal and but it under your opponents (or yur) ball drop. If well positioned this can get you six or more
balls and deny your opponents some. You then can cap whichever of your goals has the most points - I beleive the high scores in PNW got there at least twice using this trick. I which I had pictures - but my darn camera rest itself after a full load of great shots!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Greg Perkins

BUZZ was at BAE

There are actually two Buzz's this year. I think one of them is a rookie team. I remember seeing it in the program book this weekend.
Can anyone confirm this?

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

There are actually two Buzz's this year. I think one of them is a rookie team. I remember seeing it in the program book this weekend.
Can anyone confirm this?

there can only BE one BUZZ!

if a rookie team snarfed their name, they should change it a little

howbout:

BUZZlightyear?

BHUZZ?

FUZZ?

or if they are from massachuses:
BAHZZ?

[ArJubx]

Yeah team 33, BUZZ the killer bees were definitly at VCU considering they were the alliance captain of the winning alliance.

[Paul H]

Just to clear up any misunderstandings, our team name is the Killer Bees. The robot's name is Buzz 9, some announcers call it Buzz for short I guess.