Stacking bots having some trouble at sussex

[Tyler Olds]

Well I seem to have found a possiable problem with stacking totes. At the sussex invitational out of the 5 robots which competed, none of them atempted to form a stack. Most scores were formed off of hp stacks that nobody knocked down and being on the top of the bridge.

Strategy people let me know on your thoughts on this and especialy for you stacker teams what you plan on doing for to keep your stacks up in the air.

[EvilInside]

Well, out of the robots that worked at sussex, we were the only team that had a functional stacker. And that was having problems, so we didn't even try during an actual match. In the pit area we were practicing a bit, but we still need some work on it.

[Mike Norton]

The stacker's I saw at the Quincy mini-meet Took way to long to stack.

What I did see is a stacker knocking down the bins from the start area. So the bins will be knocked down in about 1 to 2 seconds

so you better have a robot that can push the bins back quickly because these type of robots will have those bin down on the ramp very quickly

About hitting those HP stacks during the seeding round. the stacks should not be touched because you want to out score the other team not take point away from them. this will get you the hight QP points

[EvilInside]

Well, then some sort of HP stack truce is needed to get those high QPs. I've stated it before and I'll state it again: Any team that can protect a stack of 4 or more and have their teammate wreak havoc on the other side of the field is going to win.

[sevisehda]

What is the root of poor stacking?

Is it that not many teams are trying to stack.

Bots not being able to stack becaus they depend on the boxes laying a certain way.

Bots just to slow at stacking.

Stacks get destroyed faster than they are built?


What were the average scores at sussex?

[Ricky Q.]

Originally posted by Tyler Olds
Well I seem to have found a possiable problem with stacking totes. At the sussex invitational out of the 5 robots which competed, none of them atempted to form a stack. Most scores were formed off of hp stacks that nobody knocked down and being on the top of the bridge.

Thats because we weren't able to get our drive up and running Tyler :-p, if we woulda been out there some stacking woulda been done. Stacking really wasn't done because teams had little or no practice (we could't get going, it was 1091s first time driving, etc....) Stackig will take some practice, and getting them to stay up is another issue. At Sussex most of the time was spent by all bots to try and just get bins over the ramp, and most of the time on one side or the other there was a huge jumble of bins and robots, then at the end you had the fight for the top. If you can get stacking down with practice, and have a way to defend them, I think it'll be valuable, rather than depending on your HP stacks.

[Jason Haaga]

Originally posted by EvilInside
Well, then some sort of HP stack truce is needed to get those high QPs.

Rankings are relative to other teams, not an absolute measure of QPs. So it doesn't matter how high your QPs are. Let's all just play the game fair.

I'd say the root of poor stacking is the harassment factor. Stacking tends to require some degree of precision and balance, which is hard when everything is being pushed and jostled around near constantly.

[shawny963]

at sussex only stacks that were 2 bins high made it until the end. Considering no one could stack reliably, these were hp bins obviously. The game was won in the first 10 seconds. Whoever got the bins in their scoring zone first won. Sometimes the robots on the hdpe at the end influenced a score, but it was almost always the team that was at the top first that one. That was usually us because we were the only ones who could use autonomous. Sorry guys. Anyways, stacks wont work. I estimate a handful of teams will have a reliable stacker. But how will they remain standing. There is always a mass pool of bins on one side, and a stack higher than 2 bins always gets knocked over.

[EvilInside]

Well, there was a match we were going to try stacking, but our arms just wouldn't work correct. Luckily, last night we managed to fix our problem, and Slimer is ship-ready. I just wish I woulda had more practice driving, because it is needed. Most of our problems were we had so many different people driving and controling the arms that the other driver or myself never got enough practice to actually stack in a match.