[cbale2000]

I'm quite disappointed to see Build Blitz go, IMO it was the most valuable of the Ri3D projects, primarily due to the quick availability of their CAD files and variety of example mechanisms that can be easily built by teams with limited experience for relatively low cost in COTS components.

In 2014, our team lacked a proper design mentor (I was it) so in an effort to have a robot that did anything besides drive, we copied large portions of one of the Build Blitz shooter mechanisms, and directly adapted portions of the CAD model to our design. This was especially helpful because we did not have the expertise on the team to do the necessary calculations to figure out a good shooting solution or the time/resources to prototype a design.

In 2015 we worked with a local rookie team that had been registered (by someone in the school administration, because state of Michigan Grant money) prior to the season but actually formed the team 3 weeks into the build season. The designs from Build Blitz allowed us to help the team have a running robot in time for their first district. It wasn't the most effective machine by far, but at least it did something aside from just driving around (which wouldn't have been particularly useful that year).