[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

@Chris is me: I too have toured the 1114 shop, and was pleasantly surprised to have much the same reaction. I do know however, that much of their competition robot is outsourced to sponsors machine shops (IFI for the sheetmetal, for instance), and that they have (at least in past, if not presently) access to a closed Niagara District School Board school's gymnasium to set up a practice field in, which they don't have to tear down during build/competition season. I know they have also made this space available for local teams to use in past years.

Am I envious? Absolutely. Do I think they should be hindered or chastised for their awesomeness? Certainly not.

But the thing is, 1114 didn't just spring up with an IFI partnership. They worked hard and diligently to get it. It took them years to get that sponsorship - their 2009 robot was their first IFI sheetmetal robot.

I believe that from 2004 onward (?) their robot was machined almost exclusively in house, using sponsors for parts like their sheetmetal 2006 ball tower. It sounds exactly like how my own team builds robots.