Thoughts from TC - Day 1

[GGCO]

The Traverse City event isn't over yet, but I decided to write this post while in the pit. Right now we're terribly behind schedule (field issues as usual), so I have the time to do this.

Here are my observations:

Almost every team here feels that they didn't have enough time to test and build their machine. In fact, it seems to me that for most teams TC has been their very first time driving (which would explain why the chains are falling off a lot of robots!)

Also there aren't many software issues that teams are experiencing. However, there are still some field errors that are getting very old very fast. I also haven't seen any team use their camera to score. I know that we have the capability to do this, but it just hasn't been convenient to use it. Maybe this proves that camera tracking is useless, but I believe it's too early to tell.

Very few robots score in autonomous, Code Red (2771) is an exception. Even fewer can consistently hang. However, two points actually makes a difference when the highest score in a match has been 7.

I know that the COMETS (my team) has done very well by playing defensively. I haven't seen much defense from many other teams, so teams like 1918 can get away with scoring 7 goals without any resistance.