[thefro526]

This is an interesting question.

Ramps in 2007 were something needed on a 'per alliance' basis whereas a climbing mechanism is needed on a 'per machine' basis to score the maximum allowable points. In theory, in 2007 a team could have built a robot that never moved and just dropped a ramp on either side and still have allowed their alliance to get the max end game score - and it only required their partners to be able to move in a controlled fashion and be able to get onto the ramp mechanism. (Or if you're Raul, robots don't need to move to get end game points.)

This year, because climbing is on a per machine basis, I think you're going to see a lot of teams chasing a 30pt ascent all the way until the CMP. If anything, developing a climber throughout the competition season is actually more advantageous than doing so during build. By week two or week three, once the better portion of the community has played at at least one event, we will have a better feel for what a 'good' climb will be. From there, a standard of sorts can be established where machines can be grouped into classes based on capabilities. Odds are, there will be a few teams that can climb and shoot well, but will lack in another department like disc acquisition, whereas a team with an awesome pickup and shooter may not have a good climber. If you run the numbers out from there in regards to your machine, you'd then be able to get a better feel for what exactly you'd need to add to stay competitive. Odds are, if you've got a really strong autonomous or teleop game, you can get away with a slightly slower climb and still come out on top when playing a team with a standard teleop game or auton but a faster climber. From what I've gone through in the past 8 weeks or so, it seems like having a 'fast' climber is easy, if you're willing to compromise your shooter or disc acquisition, whereas if you're willing to accept having a slow or no climber then it opens up your machine for a better shooter and disc system.

All of that being said, I guess to answer the original question, I think that climbing mechanisms will be similar to ramp systems in 2007 in that teams will be continually tweaking/abandoning/adding them throughout the season, but I don't think we'll see the swings that we saw in 2007 where it seemed like every team had a ramp and then ditched it for weight or some other reason once they realized that there were other/better ramp bots in the field. If anything, climbers will be 2013's minibot or stinger, a mechanism/system that is constantly in a state of flux as the bar continues to be raised throughout the season. But with that being said, a climber has more strategic complexity than a minibot or stinger so that could make things interesting...

There's part of me that thinks that we'll be more likely to see a team make a significant change to their disc system in order to do a 'fast' 30pt climb then see a team ditch a 30pt climber to improve there shooting... Which would be a deviation from standard FIRST thinking, but might pay off by the time the CMP rolls around.