kettering kick-off, any info ?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by JackN

QFs
1>8
2>7
3>6
4>5

SFs
1>4
2>3

Finals
1>2

How mundane and uninspiring.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

How mundane and uninspiring.

But how quick, considering they were all two-match decisions, and only 1 time out. (One of the QF's had to be replayed for a field fault.)

[Mr.G]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

How mundane and uninspiring.

You had to be there...lol..ba-doom.....But by the numbers that is true.

One interesting thing we noticed was that because the ranking screen was not working in the pits no one knew how good the other teams they were going up against were.....So there wasn't very much defense being played. It wasn't the normal gang up on the number one team the whole event.

Maybe that is why team number 1 finished first and number 2 finished 2nd and so on and so on and so on all through the finals.

I have seen this at one other event we went to and I like not knowing what position you are in throughout the event. I vote for no scoring screen at any events.

[Not2B]

Originally Posted by Mr.G

You had to be there...lol..ba-doom.....But by the numbers that is true.

One interesting thing we noticed was that because the ranking screen was not working in the pits no one knew how good the other teams they were going up against were.....So there wasn't very much defense being played. It wasn't the normal gang up on the number one team the whole event.

Maybe that is why team number 1 finished first and number 2 finished 2nd and so on and so on and so on all through the finals.

I have seen this at one other event we went to and I like not knowing what position you are in throughout the event. I vote for no scoring screen at any events.

I agree. It was really interesting to NOT know what rank everyone was. Normally we don't even look at the rank anyway, but when we went 5-0, we figured we better get the scouting team to get us a list.

We did eventually have a ranking, but it was fun not knowing for most of the day.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Mr.G

One interesting thing we noticed was that because the ranking screen was not working in the pits no one knew how good the other teams they were going up against were.....So there wasn't very much defense being played. It wasn't the normal gang up on the number one team the whole event.

Maybe that is why team number 1 finished first and number 2 finished 2nd and so on and so on and so on all through the finals.

I dunno. Personally I've never had my team play defense based on anything other than scouting data or, at Atlanta / IRI, prior knowledge of robot capabilities. I don't see why people wouldn't be gunning for 51 or 68's back the entire event... I know at IRI I could never find the rankings but still knew who to "D up" on.

Was the serpentine eliminated? If so, there's your answer.

[Andrew Schreiber]

http://www.kettering.edu/visitors/st...?storynum=2927 is a little more information.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't see why people wouldn't be gunning for 51 or 68's back the entire event...

We were in a match against an alliance containing BOTH 51 and 68. Lost by two points with a first-time driver who had never seen action in a real match before (someone else had tried driving our first two matches). I was happy with the result. We didn't play too much defense that match - I DO recall our driver playing keep-away from 68 the better portion of the last minute or so. Does it count as defense if you get them to chase you with a full hopper and they never end up catching you to score?

Most fun match involving our team that I watched as a pure spectator all year. Hopefully, we've found our new driver for the next three years.

The following match, we did play defense against 217 because, well, they are 217. Kept them in the corner with a full hopper for quite a while, but they were able to juuuuust squeeze by with enough time to score a few. Lost that match by one point. 3 points were the difference between 7th and 22nd. What could have been.

[Mr.G]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

We were in a match against an alliance containing BOTH 51 and 68. Lost by two points with a first-time driver who had never seen action in a real match before (someone else had tried driving our first two matches). I was happy with the result.

Hopefully, we've found our new driver for the next three years.

Ditto.....
We also had a first time driver. He drove for one batteries worth of practice 2 days before the event and that was it. He did a great job and went undefeated the whole event. Everyone knows there is a little luck involved, but all in all we are xtremely happy.

[Josh Fox]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Was the serpentine eliminated? If so, there's your answer.

The serpentine was not eliminated.

[Tom Line]

The Event was a lot of fun, and I'd like to comment on the eliminations.

1. 862. WOW. Absolutely top notch defense. They managed to literally hold the top couple teams nearly scoreless when they defended against them. You almost felt bad when 862 locked on and puched someone into a corner. They took out foley in both matches and I would say were a prime reason their alliance made it to the end.

2. 27. Their machine may not be a scoring monster, but the strategy employed and their ability to run empty cells was a game-breaker in a couple important matches.

The playoffs were extremely exciting - there were a lot of very close matches that were decided in the last 5-10 seconds with a supercell, or defense. There were a lot of games that were within a couple of points, and I remember one that was a 2 point differential.

Next: the venue. It's nice to see they took steps to improve from last time. The single bathroom was improved with a sign on the door that told you where another one was. There were also no electrical issues in the pits (that I'm aware of). The only improvement they absolutely must figure out is seating. Perhaps 1/3 of the seats have no view of the field at all because they are behind the driver stations.

Way to go Kettering, and nice job teams. It was fun letting any team-member who wanted to drive the bot against some great competition!