Week 1: Thoughts, comments

[codeoftherobot]

I would also agree with Greg Perkins that following the game proved to be very difficult for people outside of FIRST, especially if they were seeing it for the first time. Sometimes, the announcer would say how the decision was made for offense/defense positions at the start, but other times, there would be no mention. To an onlooker, it would seem almost at random. My only recommendation is at the front desk for regionals (visitor entrance), have a small flyer visitors can take with them that explains the game as simply as possible. I've kept track of the rules but during some of those webcast matches, I would lose track of who was on offense/defense.

The corner goals didn't seem to be as emphasized as I thought they might be, especially for those robots that couldn't shoot. Many of them seemed to have been playing defense and then running to the ramp at the end but I think the key teams are going to be those with robots that can shoot well under pressure and make it to the ramp at the end. Ball collecting takes a lot of time and, from the scores, those that had the shooters definitely caused the scores to jump higher.

My favorite parts of the VCU regional were those autonomous shooters. Those robots really tip the balance in favor of their respective teams. Once they have sunk their balls in the goal, the match, quite a few times, was already set. Congratulations to all those teams though during the first week. Some of those designs were absolutely mindboggling (shooting from the ramp at an angle of 80 degrees). It is a complex game though and it was amazing to see how teams worked around various problems which allowed them to participate.