The Sleeper Robots

[Zach]

Originally Posted by Jverdon

Ok, The 1st week is over. I have been seeing alot of post about the top robots out there. What about the sleeper robots, Those robots that are solid as a rock at doing what they do. Those robots that when it somes down to you are happy that you had themn as an allaince partner. That robot that you pick as your 3rd alliance partner. The first pick is the easiest, Its that second pick, the pick where you want a good strong robot to be next to you. Well people who are they let us know?

That sounds exactly like my team, Team 122. We were the second pick of the winning seed at the VCU Regional. From what I've heard we are a very efficient stacking team. We average about 4-5 tetras a game, 6 if we are really slick about it. (Happened only in one game tho.) I am very happy that Team 401 had faith in us and chose us, along with 435, to bring into the finals.

[Jverdon]

Ok, another week of competion who were the sleeper teams this week?

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

I would watch out for team 250. We were 6-6 at regionals but we found our strengths late. We play whatever strategy is necessary. Capping- we do 3 to 4 tetras per match. Defense- we held the martians to 1 tetra in a match and the thunderchickens to zero in another match. Powerful drivetrain. Reliable autonomous program to knock down a tetra. We can be your best friend and we can be the reason you're out of the tournament. We canot cap fast but we defend extremely well, and we can play some offense. Good all-around robot that will be overlooked because of the 16th place we got at regionals.

[tammuoisau]

Originally Posted by BRAVESaj25bd8

that is true... team 1648 was a favorite of mine. especially when capping three (always a crowd favorite too). and once again, i have to give props to felix, the programmer from 1648 that helped us out. i also noticed the defensive strategies. our team actually played the same strategy against them. we saw one team pull all three tetras off of them at once. we actually got our teammate to do the same thing in our match.

Yeah, if we (team 1648) could get defensive alliances to prevent opponent from going to our back row we are very efficient. We hope to solve the stability problem before national

[DarMagi]

Hey, we didn't make it to the finals, but we had some awsome partners, team 61 and 1242 were good for an alliance with us. Also from the UCF regional there was 1402 which was great all around - they blasted across the field and carried stacks of 3 - 4 tetras and capped the small goals with those stacks! Good job to those guys, and props to 845, cutting edge, they had an awsum arm with a claw machine grabber, soo nice. Lol, props to all teams at UCF, all were good! Check out the videos at www.soap108.com, I wouldnt mind knowing what everyone thinks of our bot, its 1065 Tatsu. Bye all and great designs!

[The Lucas]

When I think of the 2nd pick, I think of defensive help. That's why team 808 was a great sleeper pick for our alliance. They can stack too, but with 869 as our first pick (first overall) so we already had two of the best stackers at Pitt.

They take pride in their excellent defensive ability. What sets them apart from most is they are smart defenders, avoiding penalties and always engaging other bots with what I consider "normal game play interaction". They also "have your back", ready to set a screen for any opposing robot that is interfering with you. Thanks to them our opposing alliances had scores way below their ability and we were free to put up big scores. Our alliance was so strong that when we go stuck for most of a quarterfinal match, 869 and 808 won it without us, overcoming a 10 point penalty my team had committed in all of the confusion. With an alliance like that, we cruised into the finals.

808 will be going to the Buckeye Regional so watch for them there.

[Devin L.]

At the UTC Regional, our last pick was team 1071. They had to be, without a doubt, one of the smartest defensive (also a great offensive robot if we needed them to be) teams out there. In the finals, they managed to prevent team 230 from scoring about 5 tetras. Not just by getting in their way, but picking them off their robot while trying to cap. Team 230 had to be one of the top 5 scorers at the comp, usually 5-6 each match. I would watch out for them at Nationals, or if they are at any other regionals.

[Mr. Lim]

Easy...

Pittsburgh's sleeper was Regional Champs 1708:

- Rookie Team
- Robot had no arm
- Robot was no more than a foot tall

But when they were your alliance partner, you absolutely could count on them to get control of your home row (which they did basically every single match) and hold it right till the end.

As the coach for Team 188, I didn't have time to scout all the teams, and see all the matches. I depended heavily on student scouts to develop strategies for every match depending on who were playing with/against. The first time we were teamed up with 1708, my strategy head came up to me and said: "Don't worry about the home row, get 1708 to take care of it - go out to the middle row right off the bat and apply pressure there."

I thought he was crazy, but my strategy head had NEVER given be bad information before.

We went out there, and sure enough, 1708 took control of our home row, and held it right to the end, even having enough time and space to cross the field and play defense on the other alliance.

-SlimBoJones...

[Waynep]

Agreed 1708. I talked with some of their students, and improvements are in the works for Nationals to make them an ever stronger competitor. Watch for them.
-wayne