Week 1 Observations

[Chris C 3624]

Can anyone explain the process used for measuring transport configuration?

[Boltman]

Originally Posted by Chris C 3624

Can anyone explain the process used for measuring transport configuration?

Imagine a box does your robot fit in it ?

Transport: 28 in. wide, 42 in. long, and 78 in. tall. 120lbs max internal weight

They will likely have a box with those dimensions to test.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Chris C 3624

Can anyone explain the process used for measuring transport configuration?

From LRI training, it should just be a taped outline on the floor and a tape measure in the hand of the inspector.

[IronicDeadBird]

You know I had a chance to make a joke and I missed it but here goes anyway.

For inspection generally you see maybe one or two mimes at competition. These mimes are in charge of making invisible walls around your robot and if there are any cracks between where the invisible walls should meet then your robot doesn't pass. After security has chased the people randomly dressed up mimes away they lay down a tape square and do it for real.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

From LRI training, it should just be a taped outline on the floor and a tape measure in the hand of the inspector.

+1

How it was done today in Dallas

Originally Posted by Boltman

Imagine a box does your robot fit in it ?

Transport: 28 in. wide, 42 in. long, and 78 in. tall. 120lbs max internal weight

They will likely have a box with those dimensions to test.

No box. They just eyeballed the vertical planes of the box, not my preferred method of checking this rule. If you happen to be off by 1/4" or 1/2" you would likely get away with it especially if it was higher up on the robot.

[ozrien]

Be prepared to update your firmware. Bring a flash drive with the most updated firmware for your PDP, PCM, Roborio and Talon SRX.

I'm a little surprised how many teams did not update to the min legal firmware versions, which have been in the rules for some time (PCM and Talon since kickoff and PDP in an early team update).

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by ozrien

I'm a little surprised how many teams did not update to the min legal firmware versions, which have been in the rules for some time (PCM and Talon since kickoff and PDP in an early team update).

I'm not surprised at all. Countless teams need help even to image the RoboRIO. If it doesn't fix a noticeable problem, it doesn't become a priority for teams. Even my team has shown up to competition with an outdated driver station version before.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I'm not surprised at all. Countless teams need help even to image the RoboRIO. If it doesn't fix a noticeable problem, it doesn't become a priority for teams. Even my team has shown up to competition with an outdated driver station version before.

Also this is the first year in which teams teams need to update PDP's Talon's and PCM's as well. That's a lot of things to keep up to date.

[Mike Copioli]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I'm not surprised at all. Countless teams need help even to image the RoboRIO. If it doesn't fix a noticeable problem, it doesn't become a priority for teams. Even my team has shown up to competition with an outdated driver station version before.

Allen,

Having a legal robot should be every teams priority. Updating PCM, PDP, and Talon firmware is easier than tying your shoes.

[Lunitic2197]

So, just some observations I have made during the first day of competition at Howell....

- Co-Op Scores is the easiest way for points, any alliance that doesn't do this in quals drops pretty fast in rankings. However, both teams must be aware that this is going to happen and plan it out, similar to 2012
- Grabbing bins from the centers is often useless and just clogs the fields more. More often then not, they just fall over, and few teams are able to pick these up.
- Noodle Agreement 2.0: Both teams are waiting till either the co-op set/stack is complete, or there are 40 seconds left in the match, as to not make a mess on their own side, or in the way of their opponents as they work for the co-op.
- If you don't make it clear to your teammates to stay out of an area, you are very likely to lose your 5 stack with a bin.
- Teams that stack 4 high with container/litter are able to do much faster and with a lesser chance to fall then when doing 5/6 (107 is able to do up to 2 of these in a match, getting 60 points easily by themselves in later matches rather than in their first ones where they spent the entire match on one 5 tote stack, getting only 36 points.
- Totes going out the chute with nothing there will bounce almost anywhere and are unpredictable, just putting a drive train a few inches further than the length of a tote away from the chute usually keeps them falling right side up and often in an easy to access orientation.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Mike Copioli

Allen,

Having a legal robot should be every teams priority. Updating PCM, PDP, and Talon firmware is easier than tying your shoes.

To be fair, I have a senior I have to yell at to tie his shoes on an hourly basis. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen him with tied shoes. Might need to do some "mentoring" there... or give him velcro.

[xXhunter47Xx]

I've noticed a couple things
-From what I've seen, teams have resorted to loading at the Human Player station rather than mining the Landfill
-Noodle throwing doesn't work out very well
-Step cans weren't as important as I thought (although I haven't watch any elim matches yet)
-Coopertition is pretty important

[dodar]

If you gather totes at the landfill, litter is the bane of your existence.

[Tweedy399]

I have definitely noticed today that litter makes a very large difference when going for co-op. Almost all alliances I have worked with have agreed to not throw litter until the co-op stack is scored. This is very helpful for both sides.

[lovelj]

Coop points are important but can skew rankings. Coop doesn't count in finals so stacking and autonomous becomes critical. In Palmetto, 3824 could reliably do two 42 pt stacks from the loading station. Teamed with 4454 who could do a 42 stack from the loading station and a 3rd that could do a small stack from the field. Finals were intense with four huge stacks on a tight field. Third pick (feel terrible not recalling their number) was critical, getting a bin from the step and creating a 4th stack in finals for a 150 to 133 win.

Also, tank drives struggled in Palmetto. Holonomic omnidirectionality with swerves or meccanums is critical. It's a very tight field!