[Wayne TenBrink]

Ike was on to something when he asked about what it would take for teams to forego building a practice bot (which seems to be behind a lot of burnout).

I would like to see an expanded version of what we already have with the district system (FiM & MAR). I like the 6 week build season, but I would also like to see greater robot access during the competition season. The district model makes it possible to do both, while reducing stress on mentors, etc.

I would like to see a 10-12 hour "practice window" in the week preceeding each of the teams' scheduled competitions (up from 6 for FiM), and a 6-8 hour "fix it" window in the week following the competition. Non-district teams attending only one event could opt to use their "fix it" window prior to their event. I would keep the withholding allowance.

The out-of-bag time would be in lieu of the Thursday "practice day" at the competition. As an FiM team, I know that having the robot out of the bag in our own shop is always more useful than another day at the venue, and reducing the days off work to attend an event is a huge anti-burnout blessing.

PS: I think 6 weeks is a reasonal amount of time to brainstorm, prototype, build, test, drive, and tweak a competitive. Independent of the mentor burnout issue, I think it is good for teams enter the competition season with a machine that is their own "solution" to the "problem" the GDC gave them - a solution that they developed without the benefit of seeing how others play the game.