10 ball auto mode

[Swampdude]

Originally Posted by Donut

Those that consistently shoot in 9 or 10 will find those numbers change very quickly when they come under fire from autonomous modes that are simply "drive forward for 10 seconds".

I think thats a good assessment, and hopefully most teams are taking that autonomous routine seriously. It's very simple, but it's going to be very effective. Unfortunately you're going to miss and nail the wall sometimes, and regardless I think its important to have 1 teammate almost every match that can run an autonomous interference pattern. Scouting will eventually tell you where a team will wind up while they shoot, be it in the start spot or somewhere else. Then you can just point and shoot.
Our bot will be capable of getting 5-10 balls probably every autonomous, but we added sonar to be effective on attacks because we know there's always going to be somebody out there better than us at shooting, hence they can have the prized 1st or 2nd starting position. Also I believe taking out the opponents best shooter is a critical strategy if they can consistently shoot more than you. Although in our case its not worth it to take out a 4 ball shooter when we know we can get a minimum of 5. So it depends.
Also I'm sure for most designs, the closer you get, the more consistent your shots will be. So the teams that shoot from the start spot, not only deal with trajectory/distance issues, they also are sure to get nailed pretty consistently.

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Swampdude

Unfortunately you're going to miss and nail the wall sometimes, and regardless I think its important to have 1 teammate almost every match that can run an autonomous interference pattern. Scouting will eventually tell you where a team will wind up while they shoot, be it in the start spot or somewhere else. Then you can just point and shoot.

Exactly, and in reality any team can do this autonomous mode. Have a partner without an auton? Simply have them enter their drive pwms as full forward/reverse in their autonomous routine, line it up on field, and poof! You have one defensive autonomous mode, even if not consistently effective.

I seriously don't know how many teams will take advantage of how easy it is to create a simple defensive autonomous though; 2 years ago you could employ an effective defense by running forward to prevent your opponent from knocking down the ball, yet I do not remember seeing any other teams at Nats do this other than us (of course that was just our division, and some of the matches).

Quick warnings on this though; you do run the risk of damaging your robot by doing the "suicidal charge" (one match 2 years ago had us run a caster full speed into the platform, bending it at a 45 degree angle and severely compromising driving ability). Also, you may have to limit how fast you drive your robot if the refs start flagging teams for high speed ramming in autonomous.

Originally Posted by Swampdude

Although in our case its not worth it to take out a 4 ball shooter when we know we can get a minimum of 5. So it depends.

Once regionals get more than halfway through the qualifying rounds, most matches autonomous modes will become...

1. A bunch of robots flying across the field to hit their opponents, with autonomous being decided by 1 or 2 balls.
2. Both teams ignoring defense and having a high scoring shoot out.

Originally Posted by Jherbie53

But no one knows whats going to happen at the competitions.

True true. We will see starting next week.

[Wayne Doenges]

Let me throw my $0.02 into kitty.

Refer to this rule:
<G22> Intentional ROBOT - ROBOT Interaction - Strategies aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of ROBOTs are not in the spirit of the FIRST Robotics Competition and are not allowed.

I would be very careful about making an autonomous mad dash across the field with the sole purpose of stopping another robot from shooting. If you can get in front of them and stop their shots than I see no problem. But if you miscalculate and damage another bot you may be penalized.

FIRST also mentions long distance, high speed ramming. IMHO I would consider 15 feet long distance.

Also, if another team has a robust bot and can take a hard hit, they may change their autonomous to have your bot hit them in the hopes of you getting the penalty.

[nuggetsyl]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

Let me throw my $0.02 into kitty.

Refer to this rule:
<G22> Intentional ROBOT - ROBOT Interaction - Strategies aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of ROBOTs are not in the spirit of the FIRST Robotics Competition and are not allowed.

I would be very careful about making an autonomous mad dash across the field with the sole purpose of stopping another robot from shooting. If you can get in front of them and stop their shots than I see no problem. But if you miscalculate and damage another bot you may be penalized.

FIRST also mentions long distance, high speed ramming. IMHO I would consider 15 feet long distance.

Also, if another team has a robust bot and can take a hard hit, they may change their autonomous to have your bot hit them in the hopes of you getting the penalty.

First off i do not think 15 feet from a dead stop is going to be called unless your robot is going really fast. Get used to that because i perdict that 60-70% of robots will do that. All caster bot good luck.

shaun