2010 week 1 low scores

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Is it possible that FIRST has expanded the number of teams so quickly that the average level of robot competency has dropped?

It's possible, but this year is a very different year, as stated by the next thing you said:

Originally Posted by dtengineering

It is also possible that the rules this year prohibit a team from building an uber-capable, ultra-dominant robot of the kind that 1114 built for Overdrive.

Yes. It is very possible, and I think it's the case, though I'm not ready to pass judgment. I actually find this year to be a lot more cumbersome then it needs to be. Imagine if the tunnel was wider and there was less bump, so the platform could hold two robots rather then one. That would change the game SO much.

[Jstack14]

In general from what i saw teams struggled with balls getting stuck on the edge of the wall and they could not get it from their to the goal easy. A big challenge is the simple fact that they are driving toward themselves. THis is making it hard to judge robots in the front zone. On top of this deffensive bots are making it impossible for teams to score unlesss they have an effective way to control the ball. In general people overestimated how quickly they could kick and score. Accuracy is low in comparison to what it could be and i have a feeling teams underextimated how easy it is for a ball to bounce out. Mteams aren't hanging, which is fine, but they can't score two points in the last twenty seconds like they thought they could. Also teams aren't allowing enough time to hang becuase some get almost all the way up but time runs out.....

I was at the KC regional and overall saw a lack of team work among bots. In autonomus so many bots blocked teamates shots. If your bot is not accurate in autonomus, then don't risks blocking your teams. Also there was minimal passing. A sound strategy would be clearing all the balls from the middle zone into your scoring end then crossing the buymp for a two on 1 in your scoring zone. This makes the deffensive bot only able to block one scorer and the other can just push balls in. Also it virtually eliminates the middle player becasue he can't do anything with a very small numebr of balls. Finally the defender can't clear all the balls if there are two attacking robots, and if you delay your ball re turn by makign it roll slow, your alliance won't be scored on to much. Strategies like this are worth considering but it seems that no one used strategy, they just played their game their way.

[Dr Theta]

I personally have been surprised by overall lack of a cohesive strategy between alliance partners, many matches that I saw in qualification rounds appeared to demonstrate a lack of communication in either pregame strategy or in-game between drivers. It looked like a lot of individuals rather than an alliance.

[annie1939]

Towards the end of the qualifying matches, one of our alliances decided to go for coopertition points. Our driver had been hesitant to try the idea earlier, but everyone had been talking about it during the day. So the teams decided to try it. Nothing else was working. Five robots were trying to get balls into the same goals. One opponent robot stayed on defense. They still only managed 3 points and 2 were from our alliance. It was very frustrating.

Ball handling is an interesting engineering problem, but that subtlety is lost on the audience. We also need games with the drama to draw them in, and I don't think they got it right this year. The finals were more exciting, but for the first day and a half it was about missed kicks and trying to get balls out of the corners.

[Enigma's puzzle]

Balls that roll into th wall are near impossible to get without a magnet, and good ball handling devices were few and far between. Way to go for anyone that got the ball magnet down, and if you don't, I hope you have weight because i think for week 3 and beyond I think it will be as tough to get selected in an alliance if you dont have a handling mechanism. About as hard as getting the ball away from the wall without a mechanism.

[Grim Tuesday]

Our robot, by just being a large, flat front, was able to motor balls away from the wall much easier than other teams. The memory foam in front of our kicker also stops balls from bouncing off of us. In fact, I would call it a passive ball control system, as opposed to an active one, such as the vacuum at FLR.