[hrench]

My team 1108 used the kit frame to win the Crossroads regional. We have stock wheels and stock gear-boxes but with up-ratio gears. We're about 28" square.

We've seen extensive wear on the wheel treads, but they don't seem to grip all that much less. Weighing 95 lbs, we're still able to push most robots, especially sideways. Across the front, we have an exposed section of the extrusion where we took a significant hit and bent it in about two inches. We bashed it back out and bolted a piece of steel bar-stock below the angle and it was okay through the finals.

With a slightly light robot, four CIMS and up-ratio gears, we've measured 110 lbs of pulling force and about 12 ft/sec. Great acceleration too. I think these numbers make you competitive in most arenas. We'll see how that works out for the Championships.

I think its' easier to build a robot on than the c-frame was, but on the downside, it takes away one more area to be creative from the kids. But we're a small team and saving the resources for the rest of the design was beneficial to us. It's also a change mounting bumpers to.