Posted by mike aubry. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Engineer on team #47, Chiefs, from Pontiac Central.
Posted on 3/11/2000 4:09 AM MST
Helloooooo to all,
Day 1 of seeding matches here went pretty well …
The 67 robots varied in size and capability, ball handling quantity goes
from 1 at a time to 12 (so they say). There are single function machines and multiple
- some were still being worked on throughout the day, and a few are still not working
at the end of the day. On the speed side of things there are fast ( not 20mph fast) and
very slow methodical machines. There are alot more hangers (if you will) than I thought
there would be. The match scoring also varied greatly, winning teams that ended up with
0 qualifying points happened on a few occasions. The luck of the draw this year is more
relative to having a decent scoring opponent, than having a decent partner. At least for us
it is. Top seeds have ave. qualifying points somewhere around 36, in think. Seems that
you have to be sure to beat your opponent (by just a bit) and they need to get around 13
to maintain a high qualifying pt. average. Top teams - too close to call … By the way,
The games started out pretty tame, everyone staying away from each other and letting
each team score. Later, the strategy changed as teams tried to block or interfer with the
teams that could score, but more so with teams attempting to climb on the ramp and lift.
Today after the seeding rounds, I predict that the games will get very physical - hopefully
the teams can handle the grief of watching other teams destroy the 6 weeks of hard work
that they just finished. Too bad the game has to turn into a demolishion derby - I guess the
last robot standing wins! Good luck to all - and try to keep your cool out there!