Pitfalls to avoid when brainstorming the 2011 game and robot

Avoid “Not reading the manual” before you start creating a strategy.
Avoid “Designing a robot” before you have an agreed strategy.
Avoid “Not being all together on a strategy” before moving forward with a design.

One key, esspecialy for newer teams, is to understand that the game rule book and design requirements are requirements, not suggestions.

You must fit inside the space requirements.
You must be under the weight requiremets.
You can only use the approved motors, epectronics, wire sizes, etc.

Incorrect, 1(77) out of 12 was a long bot that year. Oddly enough it was the team that said during the concept generation phase of robot design that year, “No widebody has ever made Einstein…”

Wish I was making this up.

Incorrect as well. This robot looks pretty wide. And so does this one. Is that Einstein I see in the background? :wink:

Isn’t that quite a twisted fate?

But the main point that I was making is that it is important to take into consideration the orientation, and how each bot will interact, move, and preform with other robots.

Another key thing that many teams did not notice is that a wide wheel base created a much greater rotational force. Because of the greater distance between the pivot point and the wheels, a much greater torque was in effect, making it easier for wide teams to turn. And in that game, the two driving things that killed were speed and agility.

Ahh, another sometimes unseen effect of one design over another. I am sure some teams thought of this, but for most (103 included), that effect was not brought up at all.

Agreed. Once the game is released we spend a good three hours or so focusing on learning all the rules and quizzing each other on them before brainstorming starts. It makes it a lot easier in the long run.

We found those about 2 weeks into build in '09. :o
We didn’t remember them when the discussion I mentioned took place. Which illustrates the point even better not to fall into the belief that something is the “right” way to do it.