Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamHeard
Currently, elite teams have been able to nearly complete redo large amounts of their robot.
Within the current rules, they are the only teams really capable of doing so however.
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Restraints like a 6 week build season only make the elite teams more set apart from the rest. The elite teams will be perfectly capable of turning the 6 weeks they are given into the most they can, while other teams may struggle to stay on schedule.
Also, having a common cut off point to the build season doesn't really accomplish much. Everyone at a given event will have had the same amount of time since Kickoff to refine their machine. Currently, if you have only one event in Week 5, you don't get to see your robot for 6 weeks, and that week 5 event is the first you really put it through any strain. Teams that attend, say, a week 2 and then a week 5, have already had an entire regional and the time at that event to access their robot and make any changes, and they are far more prepared for the week 5 event than the former. If you didn't have to bag your robot, you could still be sending those five weeks testing your machine and refining it in preparation for your one event. Elite teams invest in practice robots for this very reason, so ship day is separating the best from the rest even more.