Quote:
Originally Posted by DonRotolo
Um, what if both robots perform very poorly? Will teams like you for having an advantage to losing?
Ethics is not a question here. Neither is "Fair" (or unfair). Nobody will hate you for collaborating. There is no advantage to building two identical robots*
So, considering those truths, don't worry and just build 2 twins. It'll work out fine.
(*Actually, this is true if they are built at the same time. If one is built after the first is completed, the second one will be better made. The design could still be awful, but build quality improves in the second iteration).
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I'd agree that building two identical bots isn't cheating, its doubling down on your bet. If you think your design is the best there is, and you build two you're giving it twice the opportunity to succeed, and twice the opportunity to fail. But that's just it, the idea gets more game time and chance, but each team has the same chances. I've been to a regional or two where another team there had an almost identical bot to my teams, it was by pure coincidence that both teams had the same idea and built in the same direction, does that change the fairness because we didn't work together? Is it only fair to help another team if you don't give them what you think is your winning recipe? I do know when it comes to FIRST values, it has nothing to do with what design you use for the bot, FIRST has always been focused on how the program encourages students, and said over and over its not about the robot. More recently FIRST has added this new idea of cooperating with your competitors to have a friendly and supportive atmosphere at competitions, I don't see how collaborating with another team does anything but support these core ideas.
changing gears to a personal opinion: I don't like seeing a collaboration to build the same robot because to me its boring, it reduces that interesting spark as I walk through the pits and see the dozens of unique ways teams came up with the solve the same problem. What I'd really like to see some teams do is collaborate to build complimentary bots intended to form a powerful 3 bot alliance in the finals. It would be hard to make it happen, but I think the cool factor would pay off.