Allot of discussion is taking place on drive train decisions, which are in this game very important, but how about the rest of the robot functionality? Robots could benefit from being able to heard well to their human players, and also to be able to receive from them, and possibly score on other robots, using the camera or not. The amazing feat of programing a rotating accurate shooter to always score on competitors trailers is possible for some teams as demonstrated in a similar problem in aim high, but for the most part then and still now most teams will have to rely on human aim to score on other robots, and will probably opt to try and dump or some other close range scoring.
So my question, if you have to chase down another robot’s trailer you have a tough job ahead of you, would the time and percent of success be higher spending that time playing defense and giving moon rocks to your human players to shoot at one of their many moving targets; who will be focusing on the match and not paying attention to the unavoidable payload specialists. Is including the functionality important? I am leaning to no, the only reason I can think is that it will help score on un-functioning robots/stationary trailers in qualifying matches, where that will certainly come up. Being agile and good at getting rocks to the specialists seems to be a more valuable design focus.
Let me know what you think about that, and the apparatus in general.
My team is definetly thinking a lot about apparatuses. i think that if a team has a really good tracking system, and a highly accurate launcher, they could well dominate the field. However, i think there’s mostly going to be close-range fighting due to the highly chaotic driving surface. So a dumping hopper might be best. It is difficult to say.
I believe she might mean the rule where you cannot go outside the 28x 38 x 60 footprint this year. NOT AT ALL.
Honestly, I believe shooters are really inconceivable because in the past few game, the targets have not been moving as crazily as they will this year. The trailers are attached to the OTHER team’s robots, and obviously taking your time to line up to shoot will prove fruitless if the trailer moves.
Everyone who say teams can’t or won’t do this haven’t seen the teams who consistently have and will do that. Y’know the ones who are always getting the banners and the robot design awards all the time.
Some of our team mentors want to make a shooting apparatus, but some people (mainly the design subteam and the drive team) think this will be unfeasible. The shooter not only has to adjust for distance (so small coding feat), but also has to be able to land inside the goal/on a post without a backboard. In 2006 we had a backboard, so it was much easier, but this year, I don’t think shooter bots will be effective at all.
Not only that, but the game is going to be so much of a clusterf*** that you wouldn’t be able to aim for more than half a second without being knocked off target/filled with balls.
I think we’re going to see lots of 2006 bots that were modified/had minor design changes for this game. I also think this is going to be a very low scoring game for the actual robots, but the human players are invaluable now.
i think that aiming and shooting on the fly will be vital skills for any shooting robot. you may not be able to do complex manuvering while aiming and shooting, but if you’re moving with a constant velocity, a rotating shooter with good software might be able to manage it.
We considered using a wedge that could be driven into the goal and then opened (like a beak) releasing tons of balls. It would make driving/aiming a lot easier. We’ll have to see how that goes in prototyping…
If I learned anything in 2006 it was that driving while shooting is pretty-much-darn-near-impossible. The robots just jiggle too much while driving to make good shots.
The best shooters of '06 had turrets and tilts that could get into position in seconds and fire off all the balls while the robot was sitting still (think 25). Robots that could’nt shoot very fast got pushed out of position and missed most of their shots.
Assuming it was not very long and was included as part of the robots length. It might also be recessed within a C-shaped portion of bot, perfect for controlling a goal.
Its too bad we can’t latch onto these things. It would make scoring easier.
I think we’re going to see a lot of conveyors and ball (moon rock) lifting devices this year. Shooting is possible but not feasible for most teams. I think the shape of the Orbit ball would make it hard to shoot because your shooting apparatus would touch different rings of the ball at the same time.
I think a lot of people are thinking we’re gonna be in a fast paced game like last year. From what I can tell this game will be much slower than last year and shooting could be possible, maybe not long range shooting like 2006 but shooting from a few feet away.
People may also be overlooking the ability to pin someone’s robot or trailer to a wall to get a quick ball dump.
