[JB987]

For me, any burnout is due primarily to the compression of work into a 6 week time frame. The time frame we are given results in us working 6/7 days a week, late into the night often and even with some rotation of mentors on various days of the week we still suffer some "burnout". Of course my team doesn't stop working at the end of 6 weeks as we continue to build, iterate, program and practice with our second robot...but we do so with a less intense work rate. My team is already working throughout the season and spreading out the work hours and days would, for me, be less stressful. And no, we wouldn't just fill in the available time (we already demonstrate the ability to say we aren't going to work on certain days during the 6 week period).

If the FTC open build model were adopted for FRC I can see teams saving money on a second robot, taking more days off so we actually get to spend a more days each week with our family throughout the season. The extended access to the competition robot could also make things easier on some of our sponsors who are sometimes asked to rush outside work for us as well to fit most of our work into the 6 week period.