[evanatch]

I haven't been involved with FRC very long, but I see plenty of design variation this year (maybe even more than last year, at the top level especially).

I think something worth mentioning is that there are certain mechanisms and certain teams that are copied more than others. I've seen far more JVN and Boom Done style builds than say, Team Copioli copies. To me, that suggests that Ri3D serves as a kind of prototyping for many teams - they are exposed to a variety of mechanisms and can determine for themselves what type of mechanisms will suit their strategy the best. I think this is very helpful to teams that do not have the resources to prototype a variety of mechanisms for themselves.

Our team's robot looks very little like any of the 3-day robots, but we were inspired to use a choo-choo gear to wind our shooter from Team JVN. I think that presenting a variety of working robots to view before the build season gives teams a base to build from, without ruining the game. All of the Ri3D robots are competitive but not dominant designs so teams still need to push them further to be winning - especially if other teams have 3-day style robots to build from as well.

Overall, I think the 3-day robots raise the achievable bar for struggling teams, which is always a good thing - this year especially.