Week 1 of Build Season

Game Analysis, Scoring Analysis, and Strategy
(days 1-3)

Before we could start building a robot, we had to figure out what we needed it do to be successful in Ultimate Ascent. We analyzed the rules and discussed how to score for a whole day, before even approaching the actual design of the robot. Strategy should dictate the design of the robot and therefore it is important to determine an overall game strategy prior to even discussing the design of the robot.

Sticky Note Strategy:
We decided that the most beneficial strategy for us is to shoot in to the 3 point goal. This is  because during autonomous there is no requirement to do anything else. In addition the 3 point goal offers the most possible points during the main game.  The next important thing was to obtain discs to shoot. We predict that there will not be many discs on the ground, yet we feel it would be beneficial but not completely necessary to obtain discs from the floor.   After that our goal is to climb the pyramid in order to get 30 points. If that ability interferes with our ability to shoot or  obtain discs, we will try to climb to zone 1. When we did scoring analysis, we found that other than autonomous, climbing awards the most points per effort, measured in time.

Scoring Analysis:
To try and measure scoring effectively, we decided to measure “scoring cycle.” This term describes the time it takes to get 4 discs into the goal. To do this, we estimated the time it would take to do each process involved and assumed collection from the feeder station. We allotted 5 seconds to shoot 4 discs, 15 seconds to go to and from the feeder station at 10 fps, and 4 seconds to collect the discs at the feeder station. So we figured 24 seconds per scoring cycle, or 6 seconds per disc. If we assume for a moment that each disc is scored in the 3 point goal with 100% accuracy, then a climbing mechanism that climbed to zone 3 in under 60 seconds would score more points per second than a
shooter in the same time-frame.

[av_table purpose=’pricing’ caption=”] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]Scoring analysis priorities:[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”]Robot capabilities priority:[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]1. Auton score – 18pts possible[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”]Feeder pickup HIGH PRIORITY[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]2. 3pt goal – 40-48pts possible I. Go for 2pt if we can’t make 3[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”]Ground pickup MEDIUM PRIORITY[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]3. Hang – 30pts possible I. Hang for 20pts if we can’t make 30 II. Hang for 10pts if we can’t make 20[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”]Drive over discs HIGH PRIORITY [/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]4. Discs in pyramid goal- 20-30pts possible [/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”]Flip discs No priority Robot to Robot disc feeder No priority[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [/av_table]

Brainstorming, Sketching, Course Design, and Prototyping
(days 4-6)

Once the rules and scoring were understood by everyone, we started to brainstorm designs for a robot that would fulfill our priorities.Each team member came up with one or more sketch for the chassis, the shooter, the climber, and the disk magazine.  We eventually decided on a 6 wheel drive 26” X 29” bot. We then moved on to the coarse designs. We decided on rough dimensions, and gathered data on the weight of  our components.

[av_table purpose=’pricing’ caption=”] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”]http://www.trucktownthunder.com/?p=511[/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [av_row row_style=”][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][av_cell col_style=”][/av_cell][/av_row] [/av_table]