Quote:
Originally Posted by PayneTrain
I'm not so dense that I fail to understand it happens in VEX (and FTC, I guess?) but this is not the VEX Robotics Competition; this is the FIRST Robotics Competition. We have gone in year-in and year-out with strategic design convergence happening in FRC. The venn diagram of "teams with the resources to fly out to an event and copy a robot" "teams that actually need just that one key to be any more competitive than they are already" does not have a large cross-section. Last I checked, VRC robots did not cost thousands upon thousands of dollars and be built with a custom structure like all of the teams you just mentioned.
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There are plenty of teams that build multiple robots that aren't currently powerhouses. I can think of 20+ off the top of my head that are relatively mediocre (regional quarterfinalist/semifinalist) robots that would have the resources to build and copy another robot.
And lets be honest, all you need is a few copies of a very powerful robot for people to be upset. (triplets flashbacks?)
Or like I said, don't build anything but an adjustable drive train till week 1. Build one robot and just copy someone. Or at least take heavy inspiration from them. Heck people could have build a wooden 2014 254 clone and been way more competitive than they were with their actual robot.