So, what did we all learn from the scrimmages and play dates today?

[Mr MOE]

For those who participated in or watched scrimmages today, what key learnings did you take away from them?

- were you surprised at the types robots you saw or their functionality (theoretical or demonstrated)?
- did the scrimmages change your mind about game play?
- do you like the game better or worse than you did before?

I know this is still early and regionals will tell the true tale in a few weeks, but with more information, these converations can get more detailed and interesting.

[also - thanks to EVERYONE who was involved in pulling together the various scrimmages that took place. Hats off to you all!]

[T3_1565]

I like the compitetion better now that I watched it.

Things that surprised me:
1. The lack of shooter bots, I think galehawks was the closest to a shooter I saw
2. How many bots just drive around for points
3. how many bots had a hard time picking up the ball
4. How intense it was for a preseason event

I learned a bunch about stratagy and have come up with some new things for our driving stratagy

thanks for all who made it possible to see online!

ps. I watched the shakedown

[Cory]

Teams couldn't do ANYTHING at the scrimmage I saw online last year (Winter Warzone? don't remember).

The game will be very very different in a few weeks than it seemed today.

[lukevanoort]

If your robot isn't built robustly, it will break. Why the GDC required bumpers became pretty obvious pretty quickly.

[minirose224]

I like the game much better after the scrimmage today in Minnesota. Also there seem to be many more collisions and robot contact than I thought. In all, the game is very entertaining to watch and play.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

The two most important things I saw were robots tipping over and robots crossing lines in the wrong direction and incurring penalties.

It seemed almost every other match robots were falling over. When they did fall over, they blocked a large portion of the track. Referees were also calling impeding penalties on tipped robots the were NOT disabled by the drivers. Basically if you hit you e-stop you don't incur any penalties, other wise be prepared to rack up those 10 pointers.

There were also penalties flying for robots illegally crossing lines. If your robot barely crossed the line, they called it. My suggestion is to keep moving around the field in the proper direction.

[merybar]

Can anybody get some videos posted of the scrimmage?

[Swampdude]

We didn't see much from ours (lots of repairs going on). However we drove 3 bots around together while playing some offense. Basically it looked impossible to fit a 3rd bot through an area that 2 bots were working in, i.e. picking up balls or shooting. I foresee major traffic jams. Also I think once defense plays into it (which it will get big) hurdling will go way down. Those balls are just too big to work with when another bot is around. Picking up a ball in my opinion (with a really good fast grip) is key to hurdling, if you get to that part.

[s_forbes]

Looks way more crowded than I expected....

But on the bright side, I'm not as worried about air consumption any more.

[Uberbots]

Definitely a lot more intense than i had predicted... and they were very liberal with their application of the wrong-way penalty.

I also learned that 5 hurdles is a LOT of hurdles.

[waialua359]

I agree.
Similar to last year's game, there will be a lot of traffic.
You would think that with the rack last year with 24 spots to score, it would have been easy to do. Not so with defense, traffic, and especially with a big ball and not much of them this year.
I'm curious as to how effective the little robots that only do laps were able to perform, if any?

[Uberbots]

Originally Posted by waialua359

I agree.
Similar to last year's game, there will be a lot of traffic.
You would think that with the rack last year with 24 spots to score, it would have been easy to do. Not so with defense, traffic, and especially with a big ball and not much of them this year.
I'm curious as to how effective the little robots that only do laps were able to perform, if any?

very effective; they decided many matches at suffield.

one more comment: if it aint metal (or fiberglass) and its hanging out, it wont be attached at the end of the match.

[ZZII 527]

Originally Posted by Uberbots

one more comment: if it aint metal (or fiberglass) and its hanging out, it wont be attached at the end of the match.

Very true. Speeds are very high this year (based on what I saw at the Hyper Mini-Meet in Quincy) and even incidental, non-malicious contact will tear things off. The overpass, walls, and the lane divider are also good at tearing robot appendages off.

[Dan Richardson]

My only reaction is it looks like they made autonomous worth something again, which is nice... but at the same time they made an easy task doable. Similar to 2006, Alliances that consistently win autonomous will consistently win matches.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by minirose224

I like the game much better after the scrimmage today in Minnesota. Also there seem to be many more collisions and robot contact than I thought. In all, the game is very entertaining to watch and play.

I agree with that... the one thing i noticed the most is that it'll probably be very hard to hurdle, given the congestion and pushing that's going on all over the place. Because of that, fast bots that have great ball control will be key. but, they can't just be fast - they also need a lot of traction and torque to be able to force their way through the traffic jams, or their speed advantage is lost.