Teams going after the ramp?

[Eldarion]

Just curious if anyone is going after the ramp this year.

We will try, but if it won't work it's not the end of the world.

[Jonathan Norris]

We will have the option to go for the ramp, but I think that it is not going to be a main feature of many robots. Also, our potential CG has a lot to do with our effectiveness at the ramp. I really don't see it being too key in this game.

[Eldarion]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

We will have the option to go for the ramp, but I think that it is not going to be a main feature of many robots. Also, our potential CG has a lot to do with our effectiveness at the ramp. I really don't see it being too key in this game.

This was my personal thought as well. I thought the ramp relied too much on everyone else being able to make it up the ramp as well.

As a team, we thought the ramp would be a worthy goal because of the 25-point bonus.

[Stu Bloom]

I do feel the GDC did a great job this year with the relative scoring/penalty impact for the various elements of the game. The one problem with the ramp is that if your alliance cannot get all three robots back then it is only worth an incremental 5 points for you to get there.

Our bot will definitely have the capability ... and we may have some related tricks up our sleeve (or whatever robot part compares to a sleeve ...)

[Jared Russell]

I'm of the school of thought that any robot can make it up the ramp if they're going fast enough

[BRosser314]

We are going to be able to get on top of the ramp.

And for those teams that have a high CG remember going really fast and then running into the ramp might just allow you to flop on the ramp, where than an alliance can push you up.

[antthecyberguy]

Our original thought was that of "the ramp is not worth it" but our robot design allows to go up it if necessary. We would hate to be the only one in the alliance that could not make it.

[Marcel]

We're supposed to bring our own robot? O.o

[GaryVoshol]

We're planning on it; time will tell whether the CG of our machine allows it.

Our team brainstorming came to the same conclusion as another poster in this thread - that if your robot can get up the ramp, you make yourself a valuable alliance partner to another team that also thinks it's important.

We saw many games in Triple Play that hinged on the 10-point bonus at the end of the match. Those 10 points were equivalent to a single completed row. The 25-point max team bonus this year equals a lot of balls in the goal. It could be important.

[cgrar2008]

The largest problem we observed was the clearance because of the seemingly "extreme" 30 degree angle. Being a rookie team and using the stock frame there was a small amount of clearance with the kit skyway wheels, but they did not provide near enough traction so we resorted to the "running start method" and made it up. We purchased new wheels that will hopefully allow us to have a high enough coefficient of friction to claw our way onto the ramp.

-Chuck

[Marcel]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

We're planning on it; time will tell whether the CG of our machine allows it.

Our team brainstorming came to the same conclusion as another poster in this thread - that if your robot can get up the ramp, you make yourself a valuable alliance partner to another team that also thinks it's important.

We saw many games in Triple Play that hinged on the 10-point bonus at the end of the match. Those 10 points were equivalent to a single completed row. The 25-point max team bonus this year equals a lot of balls in the goal. It could be important.

And you'd be alot more vaulable if you got the torque and the design to help your other alliance robots get up the ramp

[dude__hi]

We will just speed toward the ramp but with the new traction wheels our robot has it might be able to grip onto the metal...either way we have brakes that will lock the robot in place so we won't roll of the ramp..we might be able to push "other robots" onto the ramp too

[rarprrydude234]

we have proven to ourselves that we can already get completely up the ramp. this is not the key aspect of the game though therefor it will not be the most important to any team. it will however be very helpful to teams if all the robots on an lliance can make it up the ramp because then you will recieve an extra 25 pts. but it would be better just to score in the upper goal if only 1 robot on an alliance has therefore proven itself.

this is my opinion here.

[greencactus3]

Originally Posted by BRosser314

We are going to be able to get on top of the ramp.

And for those teams that have a high CG remember going really fast and then running into the ramp might just allow you to flop on the ramp, where than an alliance can push you up.

well i think brake HARD right before the ramp so you fall forwards onto the ramp rather than backwards onto the carpet. easier to push a robot half on the ramp than ompletley on their backs on carpet.

[Koko Ed]

Getting up the ramp is a major part of our strategy (it's 5 points at least and 25 if all three bots get up there. Why not do it?). So much so that we emphasized a bot with a low center of gravity as a major design feature (that means we want a bot under three feet tall) .