Quote:
Originally Posted by Monochron
I feel like I have to ask, how much benefit are you going to see in a 3-4 month period by ordering 40 of these? Would it be any additional burden on your team to order maybe 15 or so for the season, and then order an additional 25 next summer?
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I'm not Adam, but I think I know where he's going based on past posting history. I would guess that only about 30 will see use during build, the rest are spares. Those 30 are for characteristics testing, a practice robot or two or three, and the competition robot, maybe a couple to loan to other teams. Due to the speed controllers being an unknown quantity* as far as shaving resistance, heat tolerance, I would guess extra spares as well. I'd also hazard a guess that many of those will end up on next year's robot as well, meaning fewer purchased next year.
For perspective, let's assume that a "typical" robot has about 10 motors of various types--minimum 4, maximum 22 not that anybody ever uses that many. 10 seems to be fairly consistent for a medium-complexity robot. All 10 motors need speed controllers--also typical, though occasionally someone'll use a Spike on one or two. Of course, you want some spares--raiding last year's 10-controller robot isn't always a practical option--so let's say 15 for competition. (See, they're already at your proposed quantity, and I haven't even finished.) Now, let's factor in the practice robot that many teams build--that's another 10 controllers; share the spare pool. 25 controllers and counting. And then you throw in that they like to build a full offseason robot after the season, just kind of testing new tricks, and still show up with primary and practice to offseasons. 10 more controllers, so 35. I'm sure I can come up with a good reason for another 5. And I'm not on the team.
See, that wasn't so hard--40 speed controllers, including spares, covers one year for 'em. More, if they reuse the ones off the practice and offseason robots. And it's a lot easier to just cut one check for a bunch than to cut two for the same item several months apart, particularly if it's a "non-consumable" type of item.
*As in, so far so good, no mass complaining yet--but the suppliers' reputation is very good. OTOH, robotics teams are very creative in finding ways to fry speed controllers for some reason.