Breakaway in review: what have we learned?

[JesseK]

I'll fifth Billfred's sentiments. A single loose nut cost us a Yellow Card and thus the semifinals in DC. We thought we'd worked everything out long before then, yet some things take a LONG time to come up.

The coach, if he/she is tall, can see nearly every ball on the field. The far-zone balls reflect off of the diamond plate on the other side of the field, giving a pretty good estimation of where the ball is. Using the tape on the carpet to guide the driver to it is how we got an easy shutout in our QF1. The bumps are only in 4ft segments, and the carpet is taped in between each segment.

Losing a week of build to snow means nothing. We seem to do better at our first regional in the years we lose a week to snow.

The AM toughbox nano's standard gear ratio, direct-driven to 6" wheels, is plenty fast for this year's game. Speaking of, our Nano's (hex) held up to the unscrupulous beating they took while going over the bumps and taking a hard hit on the other side ... cantilevered !. This is the 2nd year we've supported 150lbs through cantilevered AM toughboxes and we can now testify that AM doesn't call them "toughbox" for nothing. We did have to add the washers to the inside of the Nano's so the output shaft bearing wouldn't slip. We also burned each motor/transmission combo in for 30 minutes with plenty of lithium grease.

Center of Gravity is HUGE this year. It was fun to see all of the wheelies on Thursday (1024 slamming it full forward and popping one on purpose was hilarious). I didn't see a single drive train with the naturally-articulating 2-wheel pods (8 total wheels) tip.

Teams who stuck with the 'fast' version of the KOP drive train and have the simplest kicker with good drivers have a GOOD chance of teaming with a complex robot and making it to Atlanta. That team is the offensive zone robot and nothing else; let the complex robots handle the mid-field battle and hanging.

This year it is imperative to not give up, not one bit! Keep fighting to move balls towards your zone, mindful of the penalties. Additionally, don't take too long to line up that long-field shot -- just get it down there!