Quote:
Originally Posted by George C
Isn't it time to stop referring to Ontario's (or Canada's) "second tier". 1114 and 2056 (and many other teams) build excellent robots and have great teams but I don't think it's fair to go on about how they set the bar higher etc. If they weren't around would any team feel they could slack off on their design? We design and build the best robot we can with the resources we have - regardless of what other teams are doing.
|
I'm just going to start off by saying I feel kind of wierd writing this post as a student on a U.S. team, because I can't say for certain what makes great Canadian teams tick; I'm not on one. But I do want to try to relate my knowledge to the situation up in Canada. Also, I understand that what I'm saying might not be true for your team.
I agree that the best robots in Ontario besides 1114 and 2056 can't be called "2nd tier", at least not after the amazingly strong showing they have had these past few years. And I don't believe that without 1114 and 2056 Canada would "slack off" in their designs. What do believe is that without them, many (but not all) Canadian teams would have different goals for how competitive they want to be.
Teams can't truly know how good of a robot they have the capabilities to build. On kickoff day, people don't say "given our resources, we will be able to build a cycler that can make 5 cycles per match and has a 30pt climber. In between our first and second regional, we will be able to add a dumping mechanism, although we will miss a practice match to install it." No matter how hard you try, you can't really know what you have the ability to build. So smart teams will gauge what they
think they can do, and then they will look at what their goal is (robot-wise). A worthy goal for rookie teams is to play in elims. For some teams it is to win a regional. But for the best of the best, it is to win the world championships or IRI. For those teams whose goal is to win a regional, and up until the wild card system for those who wanted to win the world championships, the teams to beat were 1114 and 2056. So, if you wanted to beat them, you were going to have to build a really good robot, perhaps a little better than you think you are capable of. You will push yourselves slightly beyond what you think is sensible, because that it what it takes to accomplish your goal. If there is no 1114 or 2056, than teams with a lot of resources who want to win a regional would probably opt to build on the safer side and make sure that their robot is working well with plenty of driver practice, because pushing themselves any further is just a risky and unnecessary move. Also, this sets off a chain reaction, so now the teams who were motivated by 1114 and 2056 to do better are motivating other teams to do the same.
Another part of it is teams decided how hard they want to work. Now, I am just as insanely and blindly devoted to FRC as the next guy who is posting on Chief Delphi in the middle of July, if not more, but even I have to admit that there is a point where it becomes too much work. My team probably hit that point last year, and its just not a good thing to do. So if a team doesn't need to work 10,000 hours a week in order to accomplish their goals, its not a bad thing if they decide to just work enough hours that their peers think they are only moderately insane. I would not look down upon a team for doing that.
So, that's my theory that 1114 and 2056 have a huge impact on FIRST Canada. I'm sure it's not true for every team, some teams have different goals than to win a regional. But from my experiences I find it hard to believe that what I've written isn't true for some of Canada's newest members to the top tier. So, please, I'd really like to hear from some more Canadian teams on this subject.