[EricH]

Originally Posted by geomapguy

I remember reading that teams HAD to get their stuff from Small Parts Inc. aka Amazon Supply..


But mostly teams machined a lot and the average robot wasn't as good as they are today

I was there! Not quite.

Small Parts became non-required in the very late 1990s/early 2000s, when they simply could not keep up with the number of teams. Simultaneously, the "prohibited materials" list grew very short. (Would you believe.... Titanium was once explicitly banned?) The "had to" was before my time actually on a team, I admit, but I remember seeing the Small Parts booth at a couple of events.

Anyways, before AndyMark, all teams got a 2-speed shifting transmission in the kit, or rather two of 'em. Two drill motor transmissions with motors, to be exact. And yes, teams did have to machine a lot to do anything. Many of the dominating teams today got their start back then, or before, and can remember that. (The kit frame was simply huge aluminum extrusion, cut to length. No joke.) IFI did provide a controller... but no robot parts.

Then came 2005. No drill motors in the kit, but 2 extra CIMs were allowed for the first time. Add in the IFI-provided Kitbot, and the Kitbot Transmission (1-speed, roughly the equivalent of the Toughbox), which as I recall was a joint effort between AndyMark and a couple other folks, and then you get AndyMark joining in with their Gen1 shifters...

The FRC world would never be the same.