[BJC]

This is an interesting discussion. Here's my perspective on the matter.

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Pretend that the entire FRC season is only 12 hours long. The first 6 hours is used by all the teams. However, the option is available to any team to spend some extra time and money to continue to work for the other 6 hours. Teams that choose to spend this extra time and money to get the other 6 hours will generally have a more competitive robot then those who do not -- This is the current situation in FRC.

Now let’s pretend that the entire FRC season is still only 12 hours long. BUT now all the teams can use all 12 hours without having to spend the extra time and money.

- The teams who already spent the extra time and money to get the extra 6 hours will continue to use all 12 hours but will save the time and money they used to use to spend getting them.

- Some of the teams who only used the first 6 hours will continue to only use 6 hours. They were not willing to put in the time and effort to use the other 6 hours before and they are still not. Even so, now they can work every other hour rather then 6 hours straight. This saves them some stress while they maintain the same level of competition that they used to.

- Some of the teams who only used the first 6 hours will choose to work more than 6 hours now that they do not have to put in the extra time and money to get them. These teams might work 8/12 hours, they might work 10/12 and some might even work 12/12. These teams will be more competitive as a result.
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The point is that teams already decide how much time and effort they want to put into their robots. The end of the 6 week build season is not a stopping point but rather the point where extra time, effort, and money is needed to continue working. By eliminating this point teams are allowed to continue working on their robots at their discretion based on how much effort they have decided they want to put into the program but without any barriers to doing so.

Regards, Bryan