I just thought i would post some of the observations i made while watching the UTC Regional…
First of all, i wanted to compliment ACES high (176) on their amazing autonomous mode… If anyone has not seen this, it is absolute poetry in motion. They get to the top of the ramp, knocking some bins over in the process, their arm-on-a-turret then rotated each way to knock over almost all of the bins up there. It is probably the most fun to watch of any autonomous mode i’ve seen.
It seems to me that robots that have speed will win over robots that have torque. At least at UTC, the finals were won by pushing bins across the field, or out of their opponent’s scoring zone.
The last thing, and probably the most impressive to me, was Team 229, Clarkson. If you haven’t seen their curved wings, you really should watch out for them in Houston… After they fixed their mechanical/electrical problems they had on friday, robots that tried to push them off, or drive over them usually ended up either stuck or on their backs flailing on the ramp.
I only had one question in my mind after the alliances were selected for the finals… was 229 overlooked? They would have been very high on my list for picking…
Tom Schindler
Team 190