what kind of robot will win?

[fred]

I think that small balls will be extremely important in the playoffs. In 2 of the 3 regionals that I went to, a small ball bot became in the champion and in the other regional, a small ball bot was a finalist. I think that in the winning alliance, first of all, there will be a robot that can play good defense and can also hang. There should also be a capper that can probably hang and a small ball bot that might be able to hang as well. Good drivers will also have a very big impact in my opinion. A good driver could be the difference between the championship and a 1st round exit.

[Xufer]

I Think the winning aliance will be a ball herder + capper with a secondary option to hang on the side after watching afew of the regionals i think that ball herding played a significantly bigger part. i dunno just my opinion but i noticed ball collecters with good Human players (i.e. Gale Force) did really well. with an alliance that could cap or unhang a team like that would be close to unbeatable.

[Jake177]

I agree that a good drive team can make all of the difference. For example:
In 2001, we built 2 identical robots, a competition bot (The Bobcat) and a practice bot (Petunia). We went to an offseason competition and were allowed to enter both. Our primary drive team controled The Bobcat, and we let other team members take turns controling Petunia. The Bobcat won the competition, and Petunia finished in last place.

[Xufer]

Originally Posted by Jake177

I agree that a good drive team can make all of the difference. For example:
In 2001, we built 2 identical robots, a competition bot (The Bobcat) and a practice bot (Petunia). We went to an offseason competition and were allowed to enter both. Our primary drive team controled The Bobcat, and we let other team members take turns controling Petunia. The Bobcat won the competition, and Petunia finished in last place.

pretty intresting i know from experiance a good driver makes all the differnce thats why our team decided not to cycle operators we get a good system down and you begin to get that "empethetic" link of some sort you can just get what the others operators want done.

[Jay Lundy]

I think the great thing about this game is you don't know what kind of robot is going to win. An amazing herder can do just as well as a quick and powerful defensive hanger.

I'd definately say a combination would be the best, but if I had to choose one function, I'd say this game will be won by a small ball herder (which is obviously capped, hanging is a plus).

[jonathan lall]

Robots don't win championships. Alliances do.

[Steve W]

I believe that the alliance that doesn't break down before all elims are completed. I have seen great alliances lose when 1, 2 or all 3 break down during final matches.

[Bcahn836]

Originally Posted by jonathan lall

Robots don't win championships. Alliances do.

Good point.

[kristen]

I think that the winning ALLIANCE will have an elite hanger, elite herder, and a robot that rocks at doing everything.

[ahecht]

From watching the regionals, the winning alliance will be the one that can have two hanging robots at the end of every match. I don't care what kind they are, if they can cap, herd, collect, etc. If they can get that 100 points (and perhaps block the opponent from hanging) they have a great chance.

[Jay Lundy]

I predict that hanging won't be nearly as valuable as it was at regionals. Now that teams are getting large small ball scores, the 2x balls are much more valuable. Let's put it this way.

Alliance A has 1 robot hanging and a capped goal with 11 balls in it.
Alliance B has 1 robot hanging, a goal with 17 balls in it (think 45 or 33), and a robot with a 2x ball picked up.
There are 20 seconds left.

If you are the alliance A robot that is not hanging, do you:
a) Go to hang, or
b) Defend the cap

Obviously you defend the cap. It also would have been smarter for the other robot on alliance B to decap allaince A rather than hanging.

I may be completely wrong, but a lot can happen on the field when even the fastest hanging robots stop playing defense and go to hang.

[Bcahn836]

cap

[T967]

I agree with whoever said, great hanger, great collecter, great at everything alliance combo. However someone has to play D-fence. Running screens, anoying oppenents, that kind of thing.

[Ein]

Combination robots seem to get swamped in my experience. It's great for a robot to do everything, but when you have an alliance with two highly specialized robots, one hanger/bar defender and one ball gatherer/capper, they're invincible. Each dominated their respective specialties because they're not trying to do anything else. Also, looking at average points scored (about 110 or so on the high end, 50 on the low) two great hangers could possibily win it as could two really good ball gatherers/cappers.

[Joe Matt]

Well, as someone in their 3rd year of FIRST, I can say that it's a wild guess. The varables are high in any game, let alone this one. If I had to choose, I would say combination herder, small goal capper, and hanger.