2007 VCU Regional

[LordTalps]

Originally Posted by VanMan

That is exactly why we tried to pick something simple for our rookie year. We wanted defense and ramps that any team could get on.

The only thing I DON'T like about that, is it's not ambitious. An ambitious rookie team (as far as what I know and have heard says) can make an excellent impression on judges. Our team worked a high-goal shooter last year that was quite complex. It was a turret with vertical and horizontal motion, such that the camera could determine where it needed to be from any given spot on the field (if we could make the shot). Suffice to say the entire robot was slow and didn't work extremely well, but we did two things:

1- Learned a LOT. We learned the mad pace, among so much technologically, that you're going to need next year to keep your track record of success. I was ready for a horrible last week, and spent 74 amazing hours working at Robotics in the last 7 days. We had learned all sorts of ways to use and manipulate the camera, which we applied this year to autonomous (even though we never turned it on at competition), and expanded upon with other sensors. Learning a lot is important, cause you're not able to get the rookie awards anymore. You're now in the full running with the rest of us -- and oh boy will you have catching up to do.

2- Impressed the judges. Now of course, I can't speak for the judges all by myself, but we did win the Rookie All-Star award at the World Championships....