Predictions Week 4: Playing in Traffic

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Woody1458

We had a Govener Davis, but Sacramento is our capitol

It's actually your capital.

Your capitol is a building.

[EricH]

Now why is it that you mention 980 for San Diego, but not for L.A.? Without 968 to contend with, they might be able to boost their game.

[Racer26]

I always liked how we seem to be the forgotten Canadian team... We've done historically ok... (2003 CAN Regional Finalists in our rookie year, 2004 Wonderland Invitational Champions, been in the eliminations i think to the semifinals in 2004, 2006, seeded well at the 2007 Brunswick Eruption, and Kettering Kickoff)

I think this might have something to do with that until tomorrow morning nobody has seen our 2008 offering.

I also think its largely because we seem to do better at off-seasons once we've figured out everything we screwed up in the official season. Watch for us to make some waves at Waterloo this weekend though, and maybe get ourselves on the radar for next week at GTR. Also, theres a rookie team that was at the Kettering rookie competition (2609 i think) thats going to be at Waterloo tomorrow too. They won the Kettering competition. Watch for them to make waves too.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

I always liked how we seem to be the forgotten Canadian team... We've done historically ok... (2003 CAN Regional Finalists in our rookie year, 2004 Wonderland Invitational Champions, been in the eliminations i think to the semifinals in 2004, 2006, seeded well at the 2007 Brunswick Eruption, and Kettering Kickoff)

I think this might have something to do with that until tomorrow morning nobody has seen our 2008 offering.

I also think its largely because we seem to do better at off-seasons once we've figured out everything we screwed up in the official season. Watch for us to make some waves at Waterloo this weekend though, and maybe get ourselves on the radar for next week at GTR. Also, theres a rookie team that was at the Kettering rookie competition (2609 i think) thats going to be at Waterloo tomorrow too. They won the Kettering competition. Watch for them to make waves too.

Although a team's history can play into predictions, you should never base your main point off of it. You probably weren't mentioned because like you said, you haven't made your 2008 showing,

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by SSMike

Good list, but I feel obliged to include another team that I feel deserves recognition for having an outstanding robot. Team 191 (X-Cats) had one of the best (in my opinion) and most effective designs for hurdling this year at FLR. Their drive team is superb, and extremely fluid. When you combine these qualities, its no wonder that they won the gold in FLR. I expect to see them go just as far at Buckeye

I guess we got carried in FLR.
We like it when we get ignored. It motivates the drives team.

[ZakuAce]

Gah I wish we could have gone to WMR this year. I'd have just liked to go to take in the great teams who will be there, maybe learn a lot. Certainly will be a treat.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

It's actually your capital.

Your capitol is a building.

Cory started it... Look at post #2. lol
I was going to say something... but don't need to anymore I guess.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by EricH

Now why is it that you mention 980 for San Diego, but not for L.A.? Without 968 to contend with, they might be able to boost their game.

980 is in the pits next to us, they completely changed their robot design today. Should be fun to see how the new herder works, it's very ingenious.

Nice meeting you at last, Eric!

[Looking Forward]

Friday Night Update: Part 1 (may or may not get around to doing the western happenings in part 2, i apologize if I can't find the time)
As shocking as it sounds, there's more going on at Waterloo than Karthik and Paul joking around with Gameday!
Canada's first event of the year has been solid so far, but it's not quite on par with last year. There have been seven scores of 90 or higher, but 1114 has been involved in eight of them (the other had 2056, 68, and 1006). Other teams, such as 188, 1565, and 68, are doing well, but the decline of 854 and 1305 (as well as the lack of 1503, 610, and 1592) is being felt.
1114 is also sporting the top spot, at 7-1 right now, but there are enough matches tomorrow and enough teams within striking distance for that to change. Q50, which features 1114 against 2056, will likely have a significant impact on the final rankings. 1114 is still the hands down favorite, but it's possible that they might have some trouble if they fall from the #1 spot and a less capable teams climbs in. Duke pulled out a 1 point miracle yesterday, 1114 might have to do the same at some point.

Buckeye is shaping up to be very interesting during the elimination rounds. Any number of teams are easily within range to take the top spot. 94 is 7-0 and currently holding it, but 1024 still hasn't lost and has played one less match (5-0-1). 1629 is 6-1 and has a 5 RS lead on 94, so if they can pick up a match on them tomorrow they could pounce into the #1 spot from their current two position.
1731 has done very well again, although they've already landed 3 losses, all but removing them from contention to become an alliance captain. Their last two losses of the day were heart-breaking though, 10 points to 1024 and 4 points to 1629 (in which 1731 got stuck on the wall for about 25 seconds). They might not be able to land on the #1 alliance like in VCU, but they'll land high.
The eliminations will be tough to call, with at least a few alliance likely to land strong scoring machines. If 1629 can acquire either 1024 or 1731 to help them get balls from the overpass (both teams have done well at it, and are very strong hurdling machines) that alliance could be very dangerous. 1126 and 191 aren't slouching much either and could make a big impact.

West Michigan is also wide open. 2171 has a whopping 56 RS, and is still undefeated (although they're currently #2 because 1504 has played 1 more match), so if they can continue winning they're in prime position to take the #1 spot. While no team is clearly the best, 71 seems to be the strongest so far. With the new rollers added to their pick-up device they've improved on their biggest flaw of week 1. This field is still anyone's game, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be 71.

[fredliu168]

I would be willing to bet the waterloo FRC winners will be
1114, 2056, and X

X = 771, 1281, 2361, or basically any other team

[T3_1565]

I have seen less of a interaction with 1114 and 2056 this year than last year. Like I was watching them a lot (they are the two favourites) while I'm not working on our robot (we are one lane away from them in the pits) and they don't seem as friendly with one another than I thought they would be, or were last year.

I would not be surprised if they are not on the same team in the elims, and I'm glad we are "doing well" in others opionion, we finally got our auto back into driving striaght, so, we finally got our four lines again.

I am quite shocked on how few people can get 3 lines in hybrid, so far in waterloo. This is our first year doing any sort of auto mode, and we are roughly the third best at it (some people can get roughly the same consistently as us). 1114 is by far the best here though, and hopefully tomorrow will be as fun as today though, and maybe we get some better luck and things will work out our way!!

Look for us to be better tomorrow!!

[EricH]

I'll give a L.A. update.

330 and 1717 were neck-and-neck for the top spot. Two 100-point scores so far, and both involved one or both. (Yes, they paired up in one match. 100-something much smaller win.) But 1717 lost one match and tied one and fell to 5th.

2102 is running laps like crazy and doing well.

The two shooter bots at the regional--1726 and 842--seem to be struggling a bit. I haven't been able to watch them much, but neither has gotten off many hurdles. Of the two, 1726 is the more active at shooting.

Other notables at the event: 980 and their herder are doing well. 702 has come out of nowhere and are my dark horse favorite. Running laps and the occasional herd are standing both teams in good stead, as 702 was third for a while before slipping.

Current rank of the favorites:
330, 7-0-0, 1st
1717, 5-1-1, 5th
2102, 4-2-1, 12th
842, 1-5-1, 44th
1726, 3-3-0, 33th
980, 3-3-1, 22nd

Dark horses:
1515, 7-0-0, 2nd
702, 4-3-0, 17th

[chaoticprout]

Eric has a nice post. I agree watch out for 702, but on top of that, an even darker horse (?) is 2659. They're a rookie team out of Alemany who I've had the pleasure of spending time with. They have an awesome speed racer and are averaging the most laps around. I'm highly impressed by that team the more and more I see them.

[waialua359]

I dont think herding machines have as much impact as a team that can knock opponent balls off and speed around the track. If the herding machine can knock opponent balls off and can speed its way around the track, I would focus on that.
Why knock our own ball off and herd it 6 times around the track just to break even? Its not 3 times as others have argued since you would already go around the track to earn 2 pointers lapping the field. I have yet to see a robot that can effectively herd a ball 6 times plus in a match consistently. Plus, you need another teammate to put the ball back up, if you want the bonus points back. Let the opponent worry about knocking your ball off if your not hurdling it.
I thought the strategy worked well in VCU as we only had one hurdling teammate in our 9 seeding matches, losing only a close 1 match against two top hurdling teams on the same alliance.
That strategy soon failed at our next event when we had either a teammate not show up on the field (twice) , or teammates that could not knock opponents balls down, were relatively slower than average, penalty prone and unable to hurdle. It didnt help that the Chesapeake algorithm of match pairings were similar to that of 2007 which I could not understand given the fact that there were 61 teams. (Example: We played the same team 4 times in 5 consecutive matches.)
Many have predicted alliances of 2 hurdlers and 1 racer bot. I think an alliance with 3 hurdling machines "can" be more effective in elim matches. If the 3rd hurdler can effectively knock opponent balls down, relatively quick, and can place balls up at the end, then why not pick them? At CMP where there will be an abundance of hurdlers, I would predict that preferences of alliances of 3 hurdlers will take place. What if a hurdling robot has problems or breaks down or has defense played on them? The other robot can pick up the slack. **Just generalizing here**
Other factors of course: Exceptional robots in specific attributes such as speed racing, NOT getting penalties and exceptional autonomous mode.

[Pavan Dave]

Sorry, but you make it sound like the Robonauts are lacking their competitive spirit on the field... In the last 5 regional competitions attended (Before Lone Star 2008) -- 2005 Denver, 2005 LSR, 2006 LSR, 2007 Bayou, 2007 LSR -- we were winners in 3 of those events and finalists in the other two.