[Nemo]

The simple minibot solution is a fact of life in this year's game. Teams should expect to see many of the fast direct drive bots with magnets and plan accordingly.

Copying a design is okay, and I agree that we should try to give credit where it's due. I think it should be acknowledged that it's difficult to make significant design changes after the shipping deadline, because our access to the robot is limited to the precious hours we get in the pits at regional competitions. There are only so many meetings we can hold in the in-between weeks before a competition, so it is not that easy to build and program new stuff (keep in mind that most teams don't have two copies of their robot). Any team that manages to copy another team's design has some significant hurdles to overcome. Even if they do, the original designers should have the advantage, because they should be able to tweak their designs while the other teams are busy fabricating and programming new stuff. The original designer also has the benefit of more precious practice time. It's the same situation we have in the middle of the build season - if somebody else showcases their sweet manipulator on the web and my team copies it, we are weeks behind. Whatever one's opinion on the fairness of copying, there is some justice in the advantages inherent to being the first to put together a specific successful design.

If the minibot in this year's game is easier to copy than most other systems, that just means that other aspects of the game will be more important in differentiating teams at the Championship.