Effective StrategiesBy Chad

Need to be passionate about robotics

Chase Perfection Catch excellence

Canburglars

Money, manpower, time constaints Important and need to be taken into

account but don’t buy into them Should make reasonable assesments

Team Limits

Need to have a goal and objective

Drivetrain◦ Should be robust◦ Be able to take a beating◦ Personally I believe it is most importantWhat type of drive would be best for this game

Robot Design Strategy

Should you build a specialized robot Build a robot that is geared for regionals or

champs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60YK0U

maMFk What if you don’t get to champs

Robot Design Strategy

Take into account the Goal and Price difficulty

Do what is relatively easy and scores points How much weight do we allocate to a

design Need to build within team limits

◦ Manpower◦ Budget◦ Mentor Burnout

Robot Design Strategy

In years with defense is it more efficient to play defense

Score 10 points or block 10 points??

Robot Design Strategy

Make priority list of designs and subsystems Decide on drivetrain then subsystems Good shooter or good pickup?? Are endgame points important

Robot Design Strategy

Robot does need to specialize to a certain point

Must make tradeoffs Can we use one mechanism to control

another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Nf85hDx4Y

Nothing wrong with a simple robot often they are the most successful

Robot Design Strategy

Need to build accurate mechanisms Easy to build a shooter hard to build an

accurate one Need to come up with a plan that our team

can achieve in 6 weeks With no practice robot it helps if robot done

by week 6 so programming, and driving can practice

Robot Design Strategy

Robot needs driver aids◦ Help assimilate game pieces

Do we build a specialized robot◦ If pick another specialized robot and one fails they

all fail Best teams use experience to their

advantage build what you know you can make

Build season ends Saturday of Championships

Robot Design Strategy

NEED TO READ THE RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Examine every way to score points and

ranking system Keep design general in the beginning then

limit your design◦ We need to score in the top basket then later say

we need to shoot a ball from 10ft away in the top◦ http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/F

RC/Team_Resources/Archived_Game_Docs/2002%20-%20Game%20Manual.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eKvva_ZCHw

Game Analysis

Is there a chokehold strategy??◦ Can we win the game before it has started

At highest level this year cans were a chokeholdDoes it guarantee the win

Game Analysis

Should we forget about certain parts of the game◦ Co-op this year or score more points

Think about auto routines◦ What should the robot do to score the most in

auto Regionals can be won or lost because of

auto◦ 2014 can’t make as many cycles

Game Analysis

It’s a way to keep track of the information we have collected

Use ipads or pen and paper◦ At champs excel spreadsheet

Should have a team of scouts that rotate

Scouting

FIRST matches are like sports they are interesting and the strategy that goes into each match is exciting

IF you like watching sports you might like scouting

Scouting

A lot of times seen as busy work It should be respected it is not punishment Scouts need to realize the data they collect

is what the team is using for alliance selections on Saturday

Scouting

Good scouting can create strong alliances that can overcome better alliances

Scouting doesn’t guarantee a win but doing it badly guarantees a loss

Scouting

The team uses the data you collected However if data is incorrect the team leads

and drivers have to work late in the night on Friday to reconstruct the data when everybody should be sleeping

Scouting

Scouting should be respected and fun◦ Some teams bet on matches to make them more

interesting If you are passionate about scouting other

kids will become passionate also Scouts are extremely valuable The data they create is used for alliance

selection

Scouting

The drive team should not be making the alliance selection rather they need to talk to the scouts and strategists on who they think is good

Scouting

Keep track of penalties, auto scoring, where teams line up robot at

What do they do in auto and during a match Are their drivers crazy or consistent Does the team carry out a strategy or wing

it

Match Scouting

Look for functionalities of a robot Unique subsystems or designs??? A design that complements your design well Maybe something you could use on your

robot◦ Don’t copy their design exactly

Pit Scouting

Drivetrain◦ What type and power what transmission

◦ Tank◦ Swerve◦ Mecanum◦ Holonomic or Slide◦ Kiwi◦ Omni◦ Grasshopper

Pit Scouting

http://www.simbotics.org/resources/mobility/drivetrain-selection

Drive Train

OPR and CCWM Are they reliable ways to assess teams OPR-Offensive Power Ranking OPR is the expected points contribution of

any given robot to an alliance. It is calculated using a system of

simultaneous equations

Scouting

CCWM- Calculated Contribution to Winning Margin

CCWM stands for "calculated contribution to win margin". It's similar to OPR in the sense that it's supposed to be a calculation of your teams contribution to your alliance's winning point margin in a given match (where as OPR is just a calculation of points contributed to your total score).

Scouting

List should be made Friday night and have around 28 teams on it

Discuss strategy what would be the ideal partner

Who is on the do not pick list ◦ Destroys landfill

Alliance Selection

Should we pick a robot that is a good shooter and another good shooter then maybe one for defense

If lower seed 6-8 try and pick 3 robots that are all pretty good maybe gamble a little

IF a high seed don’t make a pick that is a risk want all consistent robots

Alliance Selection

Should be a calm and level headed person Should not send someone who will get

angry, become worried or sad

Should we break up alliances??

Alliance Selection

The selector has more time than you think when selecting robots

Do not be pressured by crowd or announcer Say a team that was already picked to buy

time

Alliance Selection

Someone in stands should be keeping track of the other alliances points and strategies

That way you can develop a strategy to defeat them

Elimination Round Scouting

Teams and robots should not be getting in each other’s way

Where will you be cycling or building stacks What can there robot actually do not what

they say it can do Try and develop a strategy where everyone

is maximizing points

Pre Match Strategy