[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

This could not be more true. Getting through Einstein is a grind.

In 2008 our robot could barely score by the end. Battles with 1124 and 148 rendered a good scoring machine all but useless. In 2009 we smashed into 1717 in the Galieo finals. We had to make major repairs between Divisions and Einstein. In 2010, we were very close to pulling in a backup bot because 177 was having drivetrain issues. Last year the RS775 gremlins bit 781...and I believe 177 was again fighting really hard to resolve all of their issues too.

Pit crews better stay alert all weekend to potential issues and buds of issues, otherwise they will bite you at the worst possible time.

Good luck to all!

If you look at the video of the end of SF2-2 on Einstein last year you can see the gas spring on our arm go flying off we didn't have time to properly fix it between the matches because of the speed they ran the last few matches at last year, so our quick fix with latex tubing was too short to pick up off the ground. Also I'm still shocked how few people so our minibot smoking on field in the finals.

As Adam and LF mention durability is important. To get through the championship finals it can take a minimum of 10 matches and a maximum of 15. That is as many matches as an entire regional for most teams in a span of 5 hours. You do not want to be fiddling with issues after every match in those circumstances.