[EricH]

Originally Posted by shawnz

To all those pointing out the reliability of the IFI control system: remember that it was much simpler tech and teams were asking much less of their robots back then (e.g. video streaming).

We didn't ask the robots to do video streaming because we knew the hardware couldn't handle it.

The IFI system, if the OI was upgraded to USB, would have been pretty solid for another couple of years (the Flightsticks were getting to be a pain to hook up). Beyond that, it would have needed a major overhaul, which IFI could probably have done just fine. That system could start in seconds, run just about everything needed with 99% reliability if you didn't accidentally get something unplugged (and the 1% typically resulted in a foghorn), and repeat that for a full season.

I think if IFI had been given a chance, they could have certainly risen to the occasion with a higher-performance system.