WOW factor

[Cl4p-tp]

Just wondering where people are putting a little more emphisas on a certan part of their robot? a WOW factor

[Chris is me]

I'll say something vague and cryptic for this one.

Often, subtle aspects of the game that are emphasized in design that turn out to be "the most important" are less obvious than they seem. For example, in 2008, basically every good team could hurdle in a few seconds. In my mind, what set the best teams apart from just the "good" teams was ball acquisition. This is evident in the teams that did well (1114's roller claw, 217's arm that could grab a bouncing ball, etc). So what do you think a lot of teams will be able to do this year? What aspect of that do you want to do differently or better to set yourself apart?

I hope a few aspects of 2791's robot will wow people, but there are surprisingly few original ideas in this world.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I'll say something vague and cryptic for this one.

Often, subtle aspects of the game that are emphasized in design that turn out to be "the most important" are less obvious than they seem. For example, in 2008, basically every good team could hurdle in a few seconds. In my mind, what set the best teams apart from just the "good" teams was ball acquisition. This is evident in the teams that did well (1114's roller claw, 217's arm that could grab a bouncing ball, etc). So what do you think a lot of teams will be able to do this year? What aspect of that do you want to do differently or better to set yourself apart?

I hope a few aspects of 2791's robot will wow people, but there are surprisingly few original ideas in this world.

I agree here.

The winningest teams will do the ordinary things extraordinarily well.

[mgreene]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

I agree here.

The winningest teams will do the ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Ozzie Smith. He made the difficult plays look routine.

[Radical Pi]

I'd say our kicker design is fairly interesting. A little unstable, but has the power to get it down the field

[archer003]

We have a good round robot. We are using pixel sizes to calculate strengh for our kickier to hit it right to the goal. We also are mounting a figurehead on the front C-channel piece.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

what set the best teams apart from just the "good" teams was ball acquisition. This is evident in the teams that did well (1114's roller claw, 217's arm that could grab a bouncing ball, etc)..

I think you are seeing how the effects of practice and TONS of fine tuning can help you excel in an area where most are mediocre. So maybe instead of asking "What is the most important", you should ask "What can I do really well that most teams will overlook"

[PAR_WIG1350]

I cannot disclose the feature of our robot with the biggest wow factor, but the arm is really nice .

[Arefin Bari]

We are making a 22wd. is that a wow factor?

[Ian Curtis]

Where's the fun in FIRST if you don't put a little Bling in your machines? I've traded in my 6061 and Polycord for balsa wood and cyanoacrylate, but I'll be darned if there wasn't something on every robot that rolled out of 1276's shop that made us go "WOW!" (we always hoped the judges would go "WOW!" too, but that never panned out )

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

Where's the fun in FIRST if you don't put a little Bling in your machines?

For us, building the machines, and the competition itself. Trust me, we get a lot of miles and smiles out of it.

[Koko Ed]

One thing I have observed with far too many teams is they go for the WOW factor when they aren't even capable of accomplishing something as simple as going from point A to point B.
Remember in the modern 3 team alliance structure if you do one thing and do it well there is a place for you. If you do nothing well people will forget your name very quickly. That doesn't have to be a WOW factor either. More like an ALRIGHT factor. I'll take reliable over WOW any day of the week.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

One thing I have observed with far too many teams is they go for the WOW factor when they aren't even capable of accomplishing something as simple as going from point A to point B.
Remember in the modern 3 team alliance structure if you do one thing and do it well there is a place for you. If you do nothing well people will forget your name very quickly. That doesn't have to be a WOW factor either. More like an ALRIGHT factor. I'll take reliable over WOW any day of the week.

There are some very wise words in the above post.

When we design, the 'WOW' factor never enters into the conversation. Everything is about 'Does it enchance our strategy?' and 'Is it reliable?'.

Everything else is not worthwhile. Championship teams are made because what they do, they do very well.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

There are some very wise words in the above post.

When we design, the 'WOW' factor never enters into the conversation. Everything is about 'Does it enchance our strategy?' and 'Is it reliable?'.

Everything else is not worthwhile. Championship teams are made because what they do, they do very well.

But when you look at the finish product, you never find something worth saying "WOW" about?

(I experienced the WOW factor of your robot last year on the far side of the field! )

[Chris is me]

Okay, I finally figured out the WOW factor for my team's robot.

With practice, tuning, current conservative estimates say we can go from normal configuration to above the plane in under 5 seconds. Arm deploy, hook snag, AND hang. In practice, I'm going to say 10 seconds, but I'm cautiously excited.

And that's not the part of our robot we put the most emphasis on. I'm really excited.