Scrimmage Webcast

[Macdaddy549]

Disappointed in this progress by teams. Very low scoring and I'm not sure why teams chose not to hang. I know it's early and hope things change in the next few weeks.

[Koko Ed]

So it's ok to slam teams over onto their side like that?
Atlanta is gonna be 2007 all over again if that's the case.

[Brian C]

Well...........stuck here at work and catching the webcast in between things.

Some observations:

As noted earlier by Koko Ed the scores are much lower than I expected. This may change as the weeks progress during the Regionals.

Teams finding it difficult to get the balls off the field perimeter walls and the player station walls. Just banging into them doesn't really work to well.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the ability to score from the far zone during Autonomous mode. Saw it happen a couple of times.

Hanging looks to be a good strategy, surprised that more are not trying. I also expect this to change as the weeks progress.

Alliance selections underway now..............................

[Brian C]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

So it's ok to slam teams over onto their side like that?

The funny thing is it was their own alliance partner that did it

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Brian C

The funny thing is it was their own alliance partner that did it

Well that would explain the lack of penalties.

[Macdaddy549]

Supprised also at the number of penalties. I hope the next few weeks things get better

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Brian C

Well...........stuck here at work and catching the webcast in between things.

Some observations:

As noted earlier by Koko Ed the scores are much lower than I expected. This may change as the weeks progress during the Regionals.

Teams finding it difficult to get the balls off the field perimeter walls and the player station walls. Just banging into them doesn't really work to well.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the ability to score from the far zone during Autonomous mode. Saw it happen a couple of times.

Hanging looks to be a good strategy, surprised that more are not trying. I also expect this to change as the weeks progress.

For the first time in six years I don't have a robot to build, and I sleep through the scrimmage! I've got terrible luck.

That said, these sound like the things that usually happen at the scrimmage. Scores are typically low, as if FRC teams are good at just one thing, it's usually vastly overestimating how many points will be scored by the winning alliance in an FRC game.

I can't remember a game with balls that they didn't get jammed up on the sides, and lining up with one scoring object is notoriously difficult (i.e. hurdling in 2008, and that ball was *a lot* bigger).

I am pleasantly surprised with long distance scoring autonomous scoring. Sounds like the GDC may have hit their stride again with exciting autonomous modes (seems to alternate years, i.e. exciting autonomous in 2006, 2008, and 2010?).

Did anyone record a couple of matches? I'd love to watch 'em now that I'm awake...

At any rate, I can't wait to see things play out at BAE in just two weekends!

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by Macdaddy549

Disappointed in this progress by teams. Very low scoring and I'm not sure why teams chose not to hang. I know it's early and hope things change in the next few weeks.

i was there at the beginning of the day, and when i took a stroll down the pits there was only about 4 robots that had the capability of hanging... the only one to successfully hang was Gael Hawks (230)... which they did successfully twice... so don't go bashing other teams because they didn't preform like the way you thought... i was just surprised that that many teams were using Mecanum wheels

[AcesJames]

I got to walk around quite a bit today in the Shakedown pits. I noticed quite a few robots with the capability of hanging, but only GaelHawks got to put that ability to use. Our team had the ability to hang, and it was actually our only reliable mechanism. But, in both rounds that we made it to the field, we lost 2 chains on our articulating drivetrain, which isn't completely ironed out. Our kicker still needs fine tuning and didn't get much use at all.

Overall, MOST of the teams had very very short robots, with 4 mecanum wheels and flappers of some kind for a kicking mechanism. There were also quite a few teams that had a some sort of omni wheels, or swerve drive. I did see a few of the final matches, and there was a LOT of pushing, and usually all 6 robots would end up in the middle and 1 of the 2 end zones. I did not see robots in all 3 zones very often. Pushing and blocking, as well as quick movement were KEY to success for a lot of teams.

I'd say that during most of the matches, 4 out of the 6 teams on the field were low robots, with mecanum, swerve, or omni drive, and NO elevating capability. Almost every robot had a kicker though, and it seemed that the key to success in scoring balls was to having a possessing mechanism, as well as knowing the capabilities and strengths of your kicker. For example, Team 178 had a kicker that was best at herding a ball up to a goal, and then just whacking it in. Then there were teams like 230 who would shoot from the far zone in autonomous, and they were pretty accurate with getting their shots in or near the goal on the other side of the field. A team must know their robot's abilities, and adjust their strategy accordingly.

[K3V1N.Team70]

Did anyone record that? we've been busy over here and were not able to catch the whole scrimage THANX

[MarcD79]

What James Temple said is true. I was FTA at the Shakedown today. If Gaelhawks keeps it up, they will go all the way, at least in the Northeast. As usual, there were some robots that were fine looking machines. There were also some plain bots that did very well with the basics. My suggestion to all is no matter how plain or fancy your robot is, learns how to drive it & make instant decisions!. If you can't control your robot & make changes instantly, (meaning in 1 second or less), someone will take advantage to either block you, your ball or your climbing ability. I have seen this over & over.

But by all means have fun doing it. You will get farther by keeping a cool head & leave the temper tantrums at home.

[MrForbes]

I hope some vids of this scrimmage appear somewhere soon....

Anyways, here's a little bit of the action from the Duel in the Desert in the Phoenix area

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRrpdyTkowc

(not my video)

There were two lifting robots....

[Trying to Help]

Was this recorded for those of us who built during the scrimmage?

Trying to Help

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by Trying to Help

Was this recorded for those of us who built during the scrimmage?

Trying to Help

yes and to show people around the world how the game is played and developed... there is only a few preseanon competitions and this gives people a preview of what the season is going to be like

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by O'Sancheski

yes and to show people around the world how the game is played and developed... there is only a few preseanon competitions and this gives people a preview of what the season is going to be like

I think the person was asking if matches were taped and going to be posted online somewhere for viewing now that the event has ended.

I think it's more likely that the scrimmage gives people a preview of what the season is going to be like in Week 1. It looked exactly like a game played by many teams still tweaking (and building) their robot systems.