I came up with what I think is a very good option for strategy and game play, however the rest of my team decided it was not the best idea. It involves making a net or basket about 8 feet wide that you can unfold and position under the ball dump in the autonomous mode. If you had a reliable partner, they could knock off the 10 point ball, hopefully not too soon, and you would catch most of the balls if not all of the balls. You could then have a way for them to be put back out in the corner near your ball corral, so they would not all be spread across the field and you would be able to easily push them into the corral as fast as your team could remove them probably. If you could consistently do that you would most likely be chosen in the finals. You may not automatically go to finals, because you may have one or more partners who cannot make it to the 10 point ball. However, a team who could get to the ball easily and is in the position to pick alliance partners would love to be able to control the balls. During STUbots (students act out game) we found that to be one of the best moves. However, our team decided that we don’t want to have to rely on the other robot to get to that ball.
I think it is a fine strategy. Many, if not all, of the 'bots SHOULD be able to knock off the ball. I would suggest that your 'bot also be able to knock the Bonus Ball off and not catch the falling balls. Just in case.
That seems like the best option. The strategy itself seems pretty good.
It involves making a net or basket about 8 feet wide that you can unfold and position under the ball dump in the autonomous mode.
Personally, I think this is a wonderful idea!! Interestingly, my team had a similar reaction to your team’s when I suggested it. I can’t feature wanting to chase balls all over the field when you can just catch them and then funnel them into the ball chute all at once. It might be interesting to consider a telescoping arm or tethered minibot to go out and trigger the ball dump while your robot waited patiently under the dumper. This would seem to overcome their primary objection. In the simple case, however, it makes autonomous almost fool proof – move 3 feet, unfurl net. I’m still trying to convince my team of its merits. Good luck with yours.
Our team talked about something along those lines. Maybe not catching them and containing them all but having a way to direct them towards the chutes instead of them bouncing away. We decided against it, we thought other aspects of the game were more important…well, not more important, just other things would give us a larger advantage in the game.
actaully I think you have nailed the ‘ideal’ ball gathering concept - get them while they are most concentrated in time and location - that is, all at once
I noticed you mentioned a net - that is an implemtation detail - there are many ways to catch them as they fall.
as for the release ball - your side will have 6 starter balls behind the wall at the start of the game - even if the release ball is not moved, the 18 balls on your side will fall 30 seconds after auton ends
that gives your side 5 seconds / ball to shoot the starter balls, then the 18 drop and you have 75 seconds left - still 4 seconds per ball if you can deliver them quickly to the corral
so even in your worst case, you end up with control of 24 balls with a potential score of 120 points - just for your bot alone - not bad at all! in fact, that is the MOST points that one robot can ‘score’ if it can only do one thing!
PS: you spelled Strateejury wrong :c)
Our team also thought about the arm/tethered bot, however, the arm would be difficult over that distance, and the tethered bot would still have to be able to knock the ball off in 15 sec., so there were arguments that shot that down.
a funnel would give only one side of the alliance the balls, thus hurting the time it takes to get them into the goals. Also, what if your alliance has a bad autonomous?
If your alliance partner has a bad autonomous mode, you either wait till 45 seconds, as mentioned by KenWittlief or you go after other objectives. Whis will not kill you if you can still get under the drop consistently and efficiently. You may throw a few matches, but you will most likely be chosen by a team for finals if you can control the balls and they can get knock the 10 pointer.
Hey guys! I have just been reading this and I came up with an idea, which im not sure if its illegal. U know how u can cover your side with a net or pole? Well have u thought about doing the same exact thing on the other side of the field (with a telescopic pole). I mean the rules state that you cannot goal tend. Or block a ball on its fall. But wat about doing it to the ball slots on the other side. =P Its just a thought
think of it in other terms, and the beauty of it comes out.
say for example, I want to buy 5 pounds of M&Ms from the bulk section of the supermarket
would i dump them all over the floor (even if it was clean) then try to scoop them into the bag
or would I take the scoop and dump them directly into the bag?
That has been debated here:
That last post of mine was referring to blocking the ball chutes.
ok well i read the post and understood it. My next question is it good to grab the 10 pt ball in the autonomous mode or hit it
Is it illegal to smack the pvc bars underneath the ball and try to get it inside the arena?
Also i noticed that the upper deck is a foot high. With torques involved, is there a good way to get up there?
Its a foot high off the ground, so if you are on the first platform(which is 6" off the floor) then you only have to go up another 6" to get to the top platform
I like the idea, I also mentioned it in a post http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23680.
But I’d also like to ask, how often as robots gonna hit/knock down both trigger balls in autonomous mode as there is like a foot of space between the two. Cuz if its likely that your opponent will trigger both ball releases then this design has a much better chance of winning even if your partner can’t trigger the ball release.
Ok. Now I have to make you look at the flip side. The cost, weight, power, and size of the robot are HUGE factors if you want to make a device like this especially the height issue. Not to mention how easy it is to break that. And, you may have a problem if you want to get the 50 points there for the taking. It’s a good startegy if your robot is not able to do anything else for about a minute in the match.
It is easy to design a catch system with enough power, strength, and size to accomplish this. And it should not be that exspensive either. And it still a good strategy, even if you still want to do other stuff.
now you are jumping from the big WHAT (should our robot do) to the big HOW (will the robot do that)
funny thing about engineering - the biggest mistakes are often not going after the best WHAT - taking on the best concept and finding a way.
I promise you - there will be bots at the events that find a way to catch every ball before it touches the floor - because they will focus on that, they will keep at it till an elegant solution pops into their mind at 3AM - and when you see it your jaw will hit the floor and you will spontainously say “Why didnt we think of that!”
Why - cause you gave up on it too soon - the solution didnt come to you in 30 minutes or less, so you thought it was too: hard, complicated, expensive…
Once you have the best answer to WHAT your robot should do, its time to start kissing frogs - keep thinking up possible solutions - most of them will be frogs - but sooner or later you will kiss one and it will turn into a beautiful thing.
Anything worthwhile takes a little time!
Considering it is stated in rules that balls are allowed to be passed to alliance members, I think 1:45 is plenty of time for 2 people to throw 18 balls (assuming good efficiency).