[hrench]

I think this is interesting because many teams don't ever have a 'practice robot' and once it's in the bag, there isn't any more practice or build. It's a resources-thing.

I think currently it's conceived as a really very fair idea that you can't make changes to the robot after it's in the bag. All teams have the same amount of time.

But Not Really, it doesn't work out that way. If your team has money and a practice bot and are driving it daily, breaking the weak-links, making changes to the practice-bot for weeks and then carrying in your thirty-pounds, the teams with more money, more labor (kids) and a practice robot have a huge advantage. And it gets bigger every week because those teams go to multiple regionals and make upgrades every week. Multiple regionals is also a luxury many teams don't have.

Currently our small-town team finds that the best way to compete is play an early regional so the practice-and-perfect advantage is smaller. But when we get to Championships, we're often really outclassed.

This suggestion is interesting because it would allow us to continue to drive the bot--and conceive of needed fixes--for the interim time.

There is also a big disadvantage to this plan. I haven't seen my own family for six weeks and my wife would really like me home a few nights. A 'stop build' day forces an end to my AWOL at home. If this were enacted, we would have more weeks of every-evening in the shop. I don't know how the teams with multiple robots and multiple regionals ever get their lives back to normal. They never stop building!