Yep, definitely important to have if you want to be able to compete!
Don’t rebuild too often. Prototyping each mechanism with many iterations I have found is more effective than building multiple robots.
Thanks for the advice! I’ll keep this in my mind!
being the heaviest and biggest is not always an advantage, i learned this the hard way when we were shoved around my robots half our size and weight
also dont build x drives since they will always get shoved around no matter what, also a pain in the butt to build off of
Will be sure to keep this in mind when building our robot next season 
! Thanks!
actuallly analyze the game at the start of the season, and do it well. I think if we would have all done that well we would have been catas from the start.
Sounds like a great thing to keep in mind! Thanks!
this statement is just… naïve.
Flywheel was a popular early season idea that proved to be competitive.
Flywheels are still competitive, they aren’t obsolete.
A well built, and well tuned cata is very competitive.
Both design choices are viable, and im sure certain teams were developing cata’s when the game was revealed. New designs get developed and revealed as the season progresses, and its easy to look back at the start of the season and think “how did we not think about this”.
I can assure you that most teams do lots of game analysis. Just look at tournament/worlds winning notebooks. At least one entry, if not multiple entries on game analysis, with lots of brainstorming.
I quite agree with you! I had written 4 notebooks this season (didn’t qualify for Worlds) and we had won the Innovate, Excellence, and Design awards! I had written plenty of game analysis and can definitely agree with your statement! Thanks!
If I had a motor for every time I read “Innovate, Deisgn, and Excellence awards” I’d be over the motor limit
Had too many motors yet?
Actually you might need to redesign soon if you have too many motors…the list might get bigger in the future…just saying…but won’t jinx it
I’m saying that cata bots wouldn’t have had to wait for other catas to meet success, but would have tried it from the start. Don’t be afraid to try something new or go off meta. your idea might be like a catapult
Get organised. Fast. My team was partially a disaster due to little organisation, with no good notebook or CAD to shows judges at Nats or Worlds. We are having to spend our own money on parts because we did not organise a budget or sponsors very well. Even with the robot itself, we have no organisation to encourage people to work on it, and are only functioning due to a few hard-working people. Get organised, and your team should run smoothly with no problem.
Thanks for sharing! Yes, organization is something the judges look for too, so I agree! It’s also very important to have organization if you want to perform well at tournaments
I think it’s fair for me to also state what I learned, too!
From this season, I learned that we should’ve dedicated more time to coding and driving, because in the end that’s what matters for a good performance.
From last season…choose your teammates wisely. Make sure that they are dedicated, and that you enjoy working with them!
running events and having to tape cables down, tape fields together, tape my sanity back to me
any number of things really
- the time you put into robotics directly affects your success
- take time to develop a good team dynamic. Working well together is crucial to being efficient AND enjoying it!
- CAD is extremely useful, especially if you don’t have a natural talent for building or can’t be actually building all the time.
- this one has been said a lot, but ORGANIZE. It helps your build time when 60% of it isn’t spent looking for the part or screw you need.
Thanks for the advice! I’ll be sure to follow them!
Okay! Thanks for the clarification!