Friday's Action

[archiver]

Posted by Karthik Kanagasabapathy at 03/02/2001 8:26 PM EST


Other from No Team.



Hey all,

After spending 3+ hours with my eyes glued to my monitor watching the NASA feed of the KSC regional I have a few comments and questions.

1.) It seemed many teams did not understand the importance of their stop buttons and the accompanying multiplier. I saw numerous matches where alliances could have maximized their scores by stopping the match at 16 seconds, but instead they tried to get that last robot in the endzone. A 1.5 multiplier always outweighs those extra 10 points, unless your score is less than 20.

2.) It also seemed that there was a lot of overestimating of abilities going on. A lot of alliances tried to do more than they could, and ended up with relatively poor scores. Of course this is the first regional, so most teams are still trying to figure what they can do well. As the day went on, teams seemed to redesign their strategies.

3.) Here's something that puzzled me. I saw a few alliances stop the clock with about five or fewer seconds left. Why? I was under the impression that there was no benefit to doing this.
Overall, I'm very impressed with the competition the FIRST has created. Today’s matches were far more exciting than I expected them to be.
Anyone one else have any thoughts about today's matches?

-Karthik

[archiver]

Posted by Jason Leslie at 03/02/2001 9:27 PM EST


Other on team #157, Aztechs, from Assabet Valley RTHS Alumni (Class of 1998) and .


In Reply to: Friday's Action
Posted by Karthik Kanagasabapathy on 03/02/2001 8:26 PM EST:



: Hey all,

: After spending 3+ hours with my eyes glued to my monitor watching the NASA feed of the KSC regional I have a few comments and questions.

: 1.) It seemed many teams did not understand the importance of their stop buttons and the accompanying multiplier. I saw numerous matches where alliances could have maximized their scores by stopping the match at 16 seconds, but instead they tried to get that last robot in the endzone. A 1.5 multiplier always outweighs those extra 10 points, unless your score is less than 20.

: 2.) It also seemed that there was a lot of overestimating of abilities going on. A lot of alliances tried to do more than they could, and ended up with relatively poor scores. Of course this is the first regional, so most teams are still trying to figure what they can do well. As the day went on, teams seemed to redesign their strategies.

: 3.) Here's something that puzzled me. I saw a few alliances stop the clock with about five or fewer seconds left. Why? I was under the impression that there was no benefit to doing this.
: Overall, I'm very impressed with the competition the FIRST has created. Today’s matches were far more exciting than I expected them to be.
: Anyone one else have any thoughts about today's matches?

: -Karthik

The only benifit that I can see to stopping the match with less than 5 seconds left is that if everything is the way they want it why wait those 5 sec to have seomthing go wrong like an unbalanced ramp...

Just a thought.

Jay

[archiver]

Posted by Patrick Canale at 03/02/2001 10:08 PM EST


Student on team #250 from Shenendehowa High School East.


In Reply to: Benifit to 5 second stop
Posted by Jason Leslie on 03/02/2001 9:27 PM EST:



: : Hey all,

: : After spending 3+ hours with my eyes glued to my monitor watching the NASA feed of the KSC regional I have a few comments and questions.

: : 1.) It seemed many teams did not understand the importance of their stop buttons and the accompanying multiplier. I saw numerous matches where alliances could have maximized their scores by stopping the match at 16 seconds, but instead they tried to get that last robot in the endzone. A 1.5 multiplier always outweighs those extra 10 points, unless your score is less than 20.

: : 2.) It also seemed that there was a lot of overestimating of abilities going on. A lot of alliances tried to do more than they could, and ended up with relatively poor scores. Of course this is the first regional, so most teams are still trying to figure what they can do well. As the day went on, teams seemed to redesign their strategies.

: : 3.) Here's something that puzzled me. I saw a few alliances stop the clock with about five or fewer seconds left. Why? I was under the impression that there was no benefit to doing this.
: : Overall, I'm very impressed with the competition the FIRST has created. Today’s matches were far more exciting than I expected them to be.
: : Anyone one else have any thoughts about today's matches?

: : -Karthik

: The only benifit that I can see to stopping the match with less than 5 seconds left is that if everything is the way they want it why wait those 5 sec to have seomthing go wrong like an unbalanced ramp...

: Just a thought.

: Jay

It doesnt if they have the ramp balanced. After the stop button is pressed or the game finishes, there is ten seconds to let everything settle. For instance,a balanced ramp might fall during the ten seconds.
-Pat

[archiver]

Posted by Jason Leslie at 03/02/2001 10:48 PM EST


Other on team #157, Aztechs, from Assabet Valley RTHS Alumni (Class of 1998) and .


In Reply to: Re: Benifit to 5 second stop
Posted by Patrick Canale on 03/02/2001 10:08 PM EST:



As said in the subject the only reason could be to get on to the next match and back to the pits. Could be a way for FIRST to keep things moving along. I forgot about the 10 sec. after the match end.

EOM unless theres another reason?

Jay

[archiver]

Posted by Mike Sklar at 03/03/2001 11:04 PM EST


Engineer on team #21, ComBBAT , from Astronaut H.S. and Titusville H.S. and Brevard Community College and Boeing Company and NASA-KSC.


In Reply to: Friday's Action
Posted by Karthik Kanagasabapathy on 03/02/2001 8:26 PM EST:



Well you hid it on the head. I was there and was just getting ready to explain all this.

The bottom line is most FIRST teams (not all) are not that good under pressure and don't really understand the math well. Yes 100's of points were left on floor many times due to dumb decisions. There is also the testosterone factor! Many teams want to strut their stuff and they don't care what points they get. I know it's hard for sports minded people to understand but true.