jgraber
02-13-2007, 01:25 AM
Here are some random observations from the FVC competition at UT Arlington Texas.
1. A team from Newton Kansas drove down. One school from Florida flew.
2. My first thought on walking into the room: "We are way outclassed", then later, "We'll do ok with our forklift bot."
3. 21 teams, ~7 complex bots (~4 of which actually work), ~7 RC carbots.
4. Berkner Robotics (the team I mentor) won every qualifying round and took number 1 seed, through luck of good partners and less challenging or sandbagging opponents, then lost every match in semi-finals(to tie for 4th?)
5. Plano West had two teams, seeded 2 and 4. Berkner picked #2 as alliance partner, they declined, so we picked #3. Then #2 picked #4.
I keep wondering what might have happened if we had skipped #2,#3
and went directly to #4. If they declined, they would not have been able
to be picked by #2.
6. Through similar mergers of high seeded alliance captains, the original #12? seed became the #8 alliance captain. (be prepared!)
7. By third round pick, every alliance had a simple starter kit carbot for third partner (be prepared with your favorite of the bottom 8!).
8. Check-in procedure did not include checking the template.
9. Some teams did not bring a computer, and didn't know how to load
a program.
10. Competition staff were primarily college students unfamiliar with the rules.
11. At one point the Atlas ball was ejected, and a ref tried to kick it back in.
12. There were no calls against agressive behavior, out-of-size starting positions, or preloaded balls touching the ground.
13. Scoring was similarly imprecise: Atlas ball still on the platform at end of match did not count, even if off center. Credit give for low goal balls even if robot was still touching them.
14. Few hanging attempts, and fewer still (3?) successful ones.
15. Traction is always a problem. Need to do tractor pull experiments next time, with various wheels, wheel covers(traction mat), etc.
16. Our team bought an aluminum kit to use for the arm, very light and good.
17. To make it easier to hang, we converted the wheel frame to aluminum as well, so we got pushed around and had poor traction (bad). A volumetric/cost analysis of Vex parts to use as weights would be a good idea.
18. Our meet set a new national high score for FVC, 160pts, pre FVC rep.
19. Once or twice, the control system apparently re-trigger autonomous mode during Operator Control time.
20. A big box bot was once disabled while scoring, by having a ball shoved under it.
21. One of the high-seeded big box bots had a successful hang; It can climb on the platform even though it has small omni wheels in front, by jerking forward and back until the front wheels can jump up on the platform.
22. Of course, the next time it tried, it tipped over onto its back.
23. Tactics used during qualifying rounds were mostly different from tactics used in finals, which were much more agressive.
24. Some teams have big budgets, some from parents, some from corporate sponsors.
25. Chain drive on wheels is unreliable.
26. A viable hang method is to hang from the corner elbow, lift up past the lower coupler, then sag down to catch on the coupler.
1. A team from Newton Kansas drove down. One school from Florida flew.
2. My first thought on walking into the room: "We are way outclassed", then later, "We'll do ok with our forklift bot."
3. 21 teams, ~7 complex bots (~4 of which actually work), ~7 RC carbots.
4. Berkner Robotics (the team I mentor) won every qualifying round and took number 1 seed, through luck of good partners and less challenging or sandbagging opponents, then lost every match in semi-finals(to tie for 4th?)
5. Plano West had two teams, seeded 2 and 4. Berkner picked #2 as alliance partner, they declined, so we picked #3. Then #2 picked #4.
I keep wondering what might have happened if we had skipped #2,#3
and went directly to #4. If they declined, they would not have been able
to be picked by #2.
6. Through similar mergers of high seeded alliance captains, the original #12? seed became the #8 alliance captain. (be prepared!)
7. By third round pick, every alliance had a simple starter kit carbot for third partner (be prepared with your favorite of the bottom 8!).
8. Check-in procedure did not include checking the template.
9. Some teams did not bring a computer, and didn't know how to load
a program.
10. Competition staff were primarily college students unfamiliar with the rules.
11. At one point the Atlas ball was ejected, and a ref tried to kick it back in.
12. There were no calls against agressive behavior, out-of-size starting positions, or preloaded balls touching the ground.
13. Scoring was similarly imprecise: Atlas ball still on the platform at end of match did not count, even if off center. Credit give for low goal balls even if robot was still touching them.
14. Few hanging attempts, and fewer still (3?) successful ones.
15. Traction is always a problem. Need to do tractor pull experiments next time, with various wheels, wheel covers(traction mat), etc.
16. Our team bought an aluminum kit to use for the arm, very light and good.
17. To make it easier to hang, we converted the wheel frame to aluminum as well, so we got pushed around and had poor traction (bad). A volumetric/cost analysis of Vex parts to use as weights would be a good idea.
18. Our meet set a new national high score for FVC, 160pts, pre FVC rep.
19. Once or twice, the control system apparently re-trigger autonomous mode during Operator Control time.
20. A big box bot was once disabled while scoring, by having a ball shoved under it.
21. One of the high-seeded big box bots had a successful hang; It can climb on the platform even though it has small omni wheels in front, by jerking forward and back until the front wheels can jump up on the platform.
22. Of course, the next time it tried, it tipped over onto its back.
23. Tactics used during qualifying rounds were mostly different from tactics used in finals, which were much more agressive.
24. Some teams have big budgets, some from parents, some from corporate sponsors.
25. Chain drive on wheels is unreliable.
26. A viable hang method is to hang from the corner elbow, lift up past the lower coupler, then sag down to catch on the coupler.