[Kellen Hill]

This is an interesting subject, as I feel like many people view 179 and 118 as robots that allow you to easily get 3 robots on a single bridge. The problem here is that while these robots require little to no room on top of the bridge, they still have a large footprint on top of the bridge. While they may not be physically using the space, their weight is still hanging there, meaning that other robots can't use the space. Depending on these robot's weights and where their center of gravity is, they aren't really making the bridge balancing challenge much easier.

In fact, 179 might be making it a little more difficult as all of their weight is out at the edge of the bridge (not sure what 179 weighs, but hopefully it would be somewhere south of 100lbs). If they do weigh the entire 120lbs plus all the goodies, they would have a much larger than average foot print on top of the bridge, forcing their two teammates to drive as far as they can to the other edge of the bridge in order to balance it.

I think I prefer 118's balancing technique due to their ability to have their weight more towards the center of the bridge when it comes to balancing. While I do highly enjoy both of these unique designs, they still have many of the drawbacks that any other robot on top of the bridge would have. I will be interested in seeing if these designs can make the bridge balancing act any easier than 3 'standard' robots trying to do it.

Overall point being that space occupied on the bridge, especially for these two bots, does not always equate to the actual amount of space needed on the bridge. To properly gauge a robot's footprint, you should consider other characteristics such as weight and center of gravity along with actual room required on top of the bridge.