2363 qualified according to TBA. They may have not had the money to go, I don’t know the full situation. 829 was just below the cutoff, as was 1746. They were both a few district points away from going to Champs.
How many switch specialists are actually in the IRI invite list? How many of them are better at the switch than the scale capable robots on the list?
I haven’t looked extremely closely, but it wouldn’t completely surprise me if no switch-only robots made elims at IRI.
I’m surprised 2502 didn’t make the cut. They performed extremely well at both of their regionals, and ended up being the 4th seeded alliance captain in their division.
I’ve not looked at the list in detail, but there is at least one very good switch-only bot on the list - 2655.
You make a very valid point that many scale-capable robots are quite good at the switch and vault. So, I suspect that a switch-only bot will not be selected for elims at IRI based only on their switch or vault capability. They will need more than that. They will need to be able to play smart defense, able to attack the opposing alliances switch, and be able to work well with the scale bots in an overall strategy.
One advantage that some of these switch-only bots have is that they are small and able to sneak under the scale while their alliance partners are loading cubes. 2655 did this beautifully in Turing elims at Houston. I don’t think many scale bots would have been able to sneak through that opening to attack the opposing alliance as quickly and easily as they did.
I think some of these switch-only bots will show that they have the driving skills, ability to play solid defense and the speed necessary to adapt to a variety of strategies to earn their way onto an elim alliance.
A few more reasons… Quite a few teams can carry short robots easier than tall ones. Also at some point having 3 scale capable robots doesn’t help because they get in the way trying to place on the scale.
3 Cube Near Scale Autos: 118,195, 225, 330,1619,1747,2056,2337 ,2451,3538,4028,5406
3 Cube Far Side Scale Autos:195
I’m looking forward to seeing how much further teams can push their robots in auto
Oof.
My list on Switch Specialists (No capability to do scale at all), was 4. I may be wrong, but from TBA pictures and some match footage this looked like it.
2468 - Team Appreciate
2655 - The Flying Platypi
4499 - The Highlanders
4967 - That ONE Team
Also 4944.
We’ll see.
I’m incredibly excited for not only my team but also for 2655 to have made it to IRI! It’s good to have some buddies, and this is the first year (according to TBA data) that any North Carolina team has been invited to IRI!
On another note, I’d be interested to see a map over time of how the geographical makeup of IRI has changed.
Not as many teams from out west come around as they used to.
something something money is a thing
Cheezy Champs is probably a reason as well. It’s a lot closer and nearly as competitive.
I agree with this, even at champs on Einstein the vault began to be ignored and the scale bots were plenty capable at defending the switch. The only way I can see switch/vault only bots getting picked at IRI is if they play phenomenal defense (a la Howdy Bots @ Houston) but I would love to be proven wrong by these guys.
I was going to add it, but the amount of teams outside Cali that go to CC has been tiny (1 team from Texas last year) compared to the geographic spread of teams at IRI.
708 had removed their ability to do scale by the time we played with them on Tesla. Instead, they became an amazing switch bot that was crucial to our playoff alliance at Detroit.
Exciting to see more Colorado teams made the cut this year! I’m excited to watch 4499 and 4944 on the field, as well as 1619!
If someone were to map the locations of the teams that were accepted, it would be a big help. We are looking for at least one team to cost share a bus. Our normal partners didn’t qualify for CMP this year, which led to the funding shortfall that kept us from going. With more than 1 day’s notice, hopefully there is time to make ride sharing arrangements for IRI.
708 is the most underrated team on this list