[Greg Needel]

Sure I'll comment on this..... Last year I was very critical of the Ri3D and their impact on the program, since the thing that is most important to me is the creativity and innovation in designs it is obvious that some of that "ah ha" can be take away with watching all of the 3 day robots.

On the other side of things my team like to be competitive at competitions that we attend. As vince Lombardy said "winning isn't everything, but wanting to is.." Last year when my team looked at all of the Ri3D robots it pushed us to think "how will be be better than that. Since almost every team sees those ideas, most will be atleast that good."

On another note about it's impact to competition, I love having more functionally scoring machines available for 2nd picks in alliances. Over the years it has become easier to find 2nd pick robot that can actually contribute to an alliance instead of just trying to find one that can barely drive. This elevation in play will also enable more interactive games to be designed.


Here is the bottom line. If your team doesn't like Ri3D because you are worried about loosing the creativity, don't watch them. If your team has a great process already, use them to help you push your design strategy to the next level. If your team needs ideas and suggestions, study what the Ri3D teams do and use that information to help yourself be successful.