How useful would being a fetcher be? Fetcher, being a robot being able to quickly get the tube to it’s scoring zone, so that the other teammates could focus on simply getting the tube on the scoring pegs.
It would probably be a lot better to have two very fast robots with arms scoring themselves, saves quite a few steps…
Yeah, if the “fetcher” were able to place the tubes it had on the pegs I think the alliance (or pair of placer and fetcher) would be able to hang more pegs than not. They would cut out the time for the fetcher to drop the piece and the placer to pick it up. They would also cut out any time between the first tube being placed and the second one being dropped off and so on.
If the other two were fast though this could be a very good Strategy,I think. That way they could get tubes up faster then having to go back and forth. I guess im trying to eliminate the need for all teams to be fast. This way if the teammates could pick up the tubes all they have to do it put them on the pegs. I just wondering could being a fetcher be utilized by teams who pick up tubes and put hang’em fast.
If it had to place the tubes on though it eliminate the point of what I would think a fetcher would be. I was think just getting the tubes in scoring position for the Alliance. Maybe a gatherer would be a better name lol.
I don’t see the strategy solving much. With 573’s luck, we know not to build a specialized robot. If we build a fetcher robot, we would probably get paired with teams who can’t hang tubes on the third row. Also, the fetcher robot would have to drive most of the field, drop a tube in the safe zone, and drive back. Meanwhile, the scoring robot would have to pick up that tube and place it on the rack. Picking up tubes takes time and probably isn’t worth adding the extra few steps.
I for one think this is a great stratigy.
If your really fast and can get tubes very quickly from the human player and dump them in your scoring area for another robot to hang on the top row it would be very useful. It would be even better if you could somehow eject them from half-field.
The bottom row isn’t worth crap. (pardon my French). If you plan on only being able to hang on the bottom row, I would switch to this stratigy. You will be much more coveted as a third seed tube runner than as a guy that only hangs on the bottom and gets in your alliance partners way while they are trying to score high. Basically, if you know you can’t be the first seed, build a robot that compliments the first seed. This will be a great support robot. I see the rookies that excel at this years game using this stratigy.
If you recall 2007 there was almost specific types of robots: Tube hangers, Ramp bots, and robots with both. This year will be similar to that one in that specific roles will be taken up on alliances.
What if we can throw them (with accuracy) 20ft. Then when all tube we can get are in play we could place tubes or set up for minibot.
Then you would probably win every design award ever. Seriously, in order to beat that in awards someone would have to build a bot that can teleport.
That idea requires accurately throwing three different shapes of tubes with variable sizes and inflation more than 20ft with consistent distance and aim, which scares me. To be effective, it also requires keeping the tubes way up high in the air the whole time so that they don’t get intercepted by someone with a tall robot.
:eek:
But even assuming it’s feasible from an engineering standpoint, it’s a little shallow from a strategic perspective.
- You’re hurting yourself in qualifiers, when you’re not likely to have amazing scoring robots, when with the engineering you did you probably could have built the best scorer at your competition.
- Mass volume of tubes isn’t really necessary. Once the top two layers are full, your time is better spent stopping the other team from doing what you just did or lining up for minibots.
- You have to keep all of the tubes within the 7 foot by 19 foot home zone and leave room for someone to maneuver in there.
Of course, now that I’ve typed this one of these bots will win worlds. 
I really like the idea of a feeder, but I think throwing tubes is a little out there.
Why bother fetching when you can kick the tubes across the field? Food for thought…
The fetcher is probably the most desirable second pick possible at the regional level, IMO.
If your robot is a good enough scorer, it could possibly be a first level pick, but not for the top 4 alliances.
Unless, of course, your robot has utility in something else, such as defense (blocking) or scoring.
Well be prepared. We a successfully prototypes a mechanism that can throw the Triangle and that circle and our square is poped.but we have it on a rotating plate that can aim. all we do is drive forwards and backwards and throw tubes. Right now it throws like 10ft but today is the first day we used it. We have ideas how to throw it further also expecting anywhere from 15 to 25 ft. we will have it dialed in this week. Please keep posting. We really want to know how other teams could utilize this.
This would be cool but every idea I thought of we would end up looking like Charlie Brown kicking a football.
If it isnt the major part of robot, any 10 feet is 10 feet less that you have to travel. And its 20, since you have to go backwards.
We could do the blocking if we needed to, But if we did this we would take time away from getting the tubes. I guess it just depend how fast we could do our task then switch to defense and still have enough time to set up for the minibot.
Yeah. So the further we can make it throw the better clearly,right.
Shaf2909, I’m impressed to hear you’ve got it throwing ten feet. Please let us know how your continued attempts go!
Because when you drive across the field it’s a lot harder for the other alliance to steal your tubes. Kicking a tube guarantees that someone will be able to get in front of you and bodyblock even more than throwing does.
I agree, though I can see teams also potentially picking defensively focused robots with good minibots.
I will post updates everyday. Let me know if you have any other questions. Only my FIRST true year so I’m excited to see how our strategy turns out. Thanks for the comments they have helped tremendously.
With two robots that can score at 67/1114 speed (which will happen at the championships), I would say a good feeder would be highly desirable at championships.
My personal thought is that if you can build a robot that can throw a tube from your human player area to the offensive zone reliably (i.e. you are impervious to defense), you will never miss elims.