CHS Platter 2020: Week 2
Week 1 in Haymarket was dominated by exactly two game periods, with some driver practice in between. The event ran on schedule, even ahead at certain points, meaning teams had to keep pace with faster turnaround times than they have ever experienced at a Week 1. There were several solid cyclers at this event, including 339 Killroy, 614’s WoodChipper, 836 RoboBees (when they didn’t have control problems), 1111 PowerHawks, 1418 Vae Victus, 1719 Umbrella Corp, 1727 REX, 1731 Fresta Valley (when their swerve worked properly), 2199 RoboLions, 4099 Falcons, and 5546 ART. Look for these teams to continue to improve upon their designs in the coming weeks.
The top bots late into eliminations tended to excel at autonomous and endgame. 1st alliance member 2363 Triple Helix sported a 3-8 ball autonomous, while their partners 623 Oakton Cougar Robotics and 686 Bovine Intervention showcased consistent climbs after nailing a 3-ball autonomous. Yet the key factor for victory in Finals was consistency in all things. 4472 SuperNOVA sported a 3-5-ball autonomous with several rapid teleop cycles, while 1895 Lambda Corps’ 3-ball autonomous with slow, steady cleanup capabilities kept opponents on their toes in the tournament. Once 623’s climber broke in SemiFinals, simple cycling and 3-robot climbs were able to propel the #2 alliance of 4472, 1895, and 2421 to victory.
Interesting CHSy Fact:
- 686’s name, Bovine Intervention, comes from a fence that was erected to prevent cows from crossing a road near the school. These cows prevented school buses (full of robotics students, probably) from getting to school on time.
CHS Platter - Week Two - Oof
Week two of no-bag competition in CHS. These teams have had an extra week to get ready. Will it show? Probably not.
Rankings below are calculated by CHSyness and arranged by the writers’ preferences.
What exactly is CHYness? We’re glad you asked. CHSyness is derived from a custom formula based on alliance selection position and elimination round participation over all district/regional events over the past 3 seasons (including the current season) and more recent performance is weighted heavier. You’ll find a team’s CHSyness score in parentheses after their team number.
Bethesda
Oof, we might be counting our cheese before its matured but just give all the blue banners to 1885 and don’t even worry about setting up the field. Of the 5 teams attending that played in Week 1, only one of them made the playoffs as the 23rd pick. Climb roulette will be a heavy factor in determining rankings in Bethesda.
Number of Registered Teams: 36
TBA page: CHS District Bethesda MD Event (2020)
Livestream: Primary, Quad View
CHSyness: 4.50
Predicted Winning Alliance: 1885, 449, 2819
Extra Sharp Prediction: /shrug we seriously have no idea
The Favorites:
1885 (24.64) - 8. That’s how many blue banners ILITE has won in the last two seasons. We expect no less than for the streak to continue in Bethesda. Supposedly their 2020 robot moves, and we’ve seen some promising prototype videos. Rumor has it that they are tall but lack of reveal video or photo this late in the season may mean they may have the reliability issues that have cropped up in prior seasons. At this point, your guess is as good as ours.
Others to watch for:
2534 (18.18) - Lumberjack Robotics is sporting a tall turreted shooter and dual arm climber. This seems to be a fairly common theme. They’ll need to swap out shooter wheels to avoid Power Cell destruction penalties.
449 (17.00) - Blair Robot Project sports probably the highest-power drive train at the event, and a 971-style double-sided high-MOI shooter. Expect their strategy to primarily consist of consistent close trench shots, even as the balls degrade over time.
5338 (16.24) - RoboLoco has been consistently successful the past three seasons, but has no Finals appearances to show for it. If their robot performs as well as it looks, that will change this weekend.
3793 (14.63) - The Cybertitans have opted for a design strategy that worked well in Week 1 - serialize the balls outside the robot, then rapidly feed them to a flywheel.
Hot takes from reveal videos and other inside info:
This data was gathered from social media, ChiefDelphi, and other publicly-available means including Week 0 events. These are in numerical order.
1389 (0.50) - The Body Electric was done building early and promises they’re bringing a robot that is ready to compete. This is their best looking robot in years and we’re ready to see it in action. They showed off consistent climb abilities at the USRA Week 0 so we know they can put up some points.
2421 (3.00) - With an event win under their belt as the 2nd pick of the #2 alliance in Haymarket, RTR Team Robotics has more playoff experience this season than any other team at this event. We expect them to rank much higher in Bethesda, especially with their new specialty of triple climbs.
5945 (4.27) - Absolute Control has a simple but robust robot ready to play all aspects of the game. We doubt they’ll get a chance to use their Control Panel mechanism but their climber will see plenty of action.
Richmond
Richmond is the CHS event to watch this week. Stacked at the top end with historical winning teams, this event should be quite a fight for the top of the rankings. Climb roulette will still come into play but should be less of a factor here.
Number of Registered Teams: 37
TBA page: CHS District Richmond VA Event (2020)
Livestream: Primary, Quad View
CHSyness: 7.33
Predicted Winning Alliance: 346, 1610, 3136
Extra Sharp Prediction: This shootout event will be marred by matches decided on climbs and penalties.
The Favorites:
346 (29.00) - Oh look, a shooting game. Just what the RoboHawks always wanted. In a surprising development to us here at the CHS Platter, they’ve built a tall robot that may be a distant, very loosely related cousin of their 2018 robot if you squint really hard and use your imagination. 346 has won this event twice in a row as partners with our other two favorites.
1610 (24.52) - The last time Blackwater Robotics missed the semi-finals at a CHS District event was the first event of 2017. It seems like their tug boat was just getting moving and has been pretty unstoppable ever since. They’ve been in the finals the last 2 years at this event (winning it once) and it’d be hard to believe that they don’t make it again this season. They’ve matched up against 1262 the last 2 years, maybe this will be the year they work together.
1262 (24.09) - Also with a tall robot, the STAGs always show up to their first event ready to play. Can the defending champions of this event pull off another win based on consistent performance?
Others to watch for:
384 (23.52) - Color us shocked, Sparky built a tall robot too. They only shot a handful of times at the Richmond Week 0 from behind the Control Panel, and while they have the power and targeting, many other teams from Week 1 seemed to struggle with consistency from that distance due to variations in Power Cells.
1599 (22.79) - CircuiTree basically built a cannon. We’d pick this robot first for dodgeball. They spent a lot of time at the Richmond Week 0 trying to get their distance shot consistent, but as most other teams are finding they’re better from the Initiation Line. This team has really embraced the district model, doing well by showing up with fully operational bots, and if they can dial down the power a little to reduce shots rebounding out of the goal they’ll be a contender.
1895 (5.33) - Many thought 4472 had lost their minds taking 21st ranked 1895 with the #2 overall pick, but their blue banner says different. Lambda Corps is riding high (on climb points) after their first blue banner in the team’s history.
Hot takes from reveal videos and other inside info:
This data was gathered from social media, ChiefDelphi, and other publicly-available means including Week 0 events. These are in numerical order.
401 (13.44) - Your 2019 district champions made the trip to Richmond for Week 0. We didn’t see Copperhead do much other than try to play defense and get a wheel broken, but that was worth the $40. They have a tall bot with a turret, the perfect design for this team.
619 (13.83) - Another 2019 district champion, Cavalier Robotics has a fast and short bot with a consistent Trench shot. If they can find a balance between consistency and power to keep rebounds to a minimum we’ll see them in Finals.
1086 (6.38) - What, you thought we’d leave ourselves out? Blue Cheese sported the 2nd best shooter that we saw at the Richmond Week 0. A little too close for comfort on the trench, we’re making modifications before this weekend.
2106 (17.84) - The Junkyard Dogs worked quite a bit during the Richmond Week 0 event to get their turret working as they wanted. This great looking super short bot will put up plenty of points.
2998 (11.71) - Sticking with the “keep it simple” theme that worked well for them last season, TJ also played at the Richmond Week 0. With a reliable layup shot from the protected zone, VikingBots look like a promising scorer as long as their climb is functional.
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Want to see your team mentioned in the coming weeks? Make sure to upload a robot photo to TBA so we can check you out!
