Hello all,
I just came back from what I believe was the first Skyrise competition of the year at Rex at Dulaney hosts Skyrise (REX at Dulaney Hosts SKYRISE : Robot Events) and thought I should share a few thoughts about the game.
Most of the robots struggled to score large amounts of points, as the event is mainly designed to get a taste for the game rather than have extremely proficient robots. We used a reverse-double four bar with side rollers (which worked extremely well), while our partner team from our school used an elevator lift with a large claw on the front. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures or videos accessible to me right now, but if anyone wants them, just ask, I will be sure to find some pictures soon.
As for the game itself, it is much more precise game than any of the others I have played before. Those of you looking to use the skyrise sections should make sure that you can actually get it out of the autoloader - the autoloader almost clamps down on the skyrise sections. It’s not enough just to have a claw that can hold it. Also, lifts that do not go straight up and down have difficulty removing the pegs as they push the pegs into the autoloader. Getting rid of the pegs is also very difficult, as it requires a great amount of precision to get the sections into the skyrise base, since the base is very small.
At these early competitions, possession definitely made a large difference. Scoring on four different goals basically guaranteed 11 points, since few other teams could get up to the necessary heights.
Because many teams do autonomous last, about half started the day without an autonomous. We nearly lost our first game because another robot on the other team did not show up and their preload was put in their starting square, giving them one point and winning the autonomous round. We won a lot of games by making a simple autonomous that moved forwards, “scoring” the cube in our starting square.
Also, be careful near the end of the game, since touching any cube anywhere automatically descores it! Our flag was touching a cube on the skyrise, losing us 4 points and actually losing us the game.
Blocking was minimal; most teams had one robot camp at near the autoloader and build up the skyrise as much as possible. I expect this trend to continue, why not post a robot at the skyrise, score 60 points, and then run around in the last 15 seconds to get as much possession as possible?
Robot skills was also done in a similar way, we were second overall with 21 points while our team from our school got 23 points. (I know these scores sound really low!) In both of these cases, 20 of the points were scored off the skyrise alone. I think another successful team got 20 points with the same strategy.
Vexnet 2.0 keys are God-tier - our partner team had a problem with accidentally dropping the sections onto their keys, but the 2.0 keys completely fixed this problem.
18 inches of height is really difficult! I would actually recommend having the maximum height of one’s robot (at least for these first few competitions) be 7 inches, as the tension will bring it up a tad.
The event was extremely well-run, especially considering the amount of time given! Thanks alot to all the judges and people who ran the event!
If you have any questions, please comment below, I will be sure to answer.
Good luck in the season!
