Pictures, Videos, and Scores

[4Head]

Yes

Wow, that's incredible! However based on past results Mentor is typically very far ahead of other teams, so the winning nationals score could be considerably lower if they don't make it.

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

[Unome]

Wow, that's incredible! However based on past results Mentor is typically very far ahead of other teams, so the winning nationals score could be considerably lower if they don't make it.

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

Ah ok. I assume they have a backup plan? (have you seen how much they can score without knocking them?)

[dcambrid]

Wow, that's incredible! However based on past results Mentor is typically very far ahead of other teams, so the winning nationals score could be considerably lower if they don't make it.

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

When you read the rules, it says the bonus is the distance between the cans before the run and there is no penalty for hitting the cans. So as long as you go between them you can push them apart with your vehicle and apparently this is the approach for many teams.

[Unome]

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

When you read the rules, it says the bonus is the distance between the cans before the run and there is no penalty for hitting the cans. So as long as you go between them you can push them apart with your vehicle and apparently this is the approach for many teams.

It's still rather risky, since you'd have to successfully push them apart and remain on course enough to not cancel out the 5 or so extra points from going so close. I'd be rather surprised if they didn't have a backup plan in case the cans turned out to be too heavy for them to push apart.

[Bazinga+]

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

When you read the rules, it says the bonus is the distance between the cans before the run and there is no penalty for hitting the cans. So as long as you go between them you can push them apart with your vehicle and apparently this is the approach for many teams.

It's still rather risky, since you'd have to successfully push them apart and remain on course enough to not cancel out the 5 or so extra points from going so close. I'd be rather surprised if they didn't have a backup plan in case the cans turned out to be too heavy for them to push apart.

Actually it's probably more like 2 extra points since every 5cm for can bonus is equivalent to one point (or one cm of accuracy) meaning that if they set the cans 15cm apart they would only lose 2 points. I find it hard to believe that it's possible to push apart the cans and gain less than 1-2cm error, especially if the cans are more heavily weighted. A backup strategy is definately a good idea for teams using this tactic.

[4Head]

When you read the rules, it says the bonus is the distance between the cans before the run and there is no penalty for hitting the cans. So as long as you go between them you can push them apart with your vehicle and apparently this is the approach for many teams.

It's still rather risky, since you'd have to successfully push them apart and remain on course enough to not cancel out the 5 or so extra points from going so close. I'd be rather surprised if they didn't have a backup plan in case the cans turned out to be too heavy for them to push apart.

Actually it's probably more like 2 extra points since every 5cm for can bonus is equivalent to one point (or one cm of accuracy) meaning that if they set the cans 15cm apart they would only lose 2 points. I find it hard to believe that it's possible to push apart the cans and gain less than 1-2cm error, especially if the cans are more heavily weighted. A backup strategy is definately a good idea for teams using this tactic.

Definitely. For consistent runs, the car would have to be very, very heavy.

[4Head]

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

Ah ok. I assume they have a backup plan? (have you seen how much they can score without knocking them?)

I haven't.

[Private Wang Fire]

...their entire vehicle fits through a 5 cm gap?

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

Ah ok. I assume they have a backup plan? (have you seen how much they can score without knocking them?)

I believe mentor is capable of double digit negative scores even without knocking the cans apart, so they are way ahead of us (me at least for sure).

[Unome]

Their coach, as far as I know, interprets the rules as it being legal to knock the cans aside.

Ah ok. I assume they have a backup plan? (have you seen how much they can score without knocking them?)

I believe mentor is capable of double digit negative scores even without knocking the cans apart, so they are way ahead of us (me at least for sure).

Double digit negative, while impressive, imo is nowhere near as difficult as successfully knocking the cans apart and keeping a good distance score. 3 sec, 4 cm off, and 25 cm bonus is enough for double digit (which, I agree is difficult, but I'd expect to see several of these at Nationals).

[dcrxcode]

5th in Indiana with a score of about 15 (12.2 distance score and ~3s time score).