[Nemo]

"Copy" is the wrong word.

If our team has a need to upgrade an ability, and we see a concept that works, and we conclude that we can use it to good effect, we are going to try to build something that uses that concept. But we're building our own version of it according to our resources and abilities, and according to what's possible given our existing robot and weight and space limits. We will put our own sweat and ingenuity into it, and then we're going to spend as much time as possible iterating and tweaking and tuning it.

"Copy" makes it sound like a team prints out a set of drawings, sends parts off to be cut, and then assembles a thing according to pre-made step by step instructions. Then tests it and finds that it works just marvelously on the first try.

Edit: Also, the experience of installing this new mechanism on Thursday of the next event and getting it to actually work on Friday is just *glorious*. It's hugely rewarding. Given the choice between going through this challenging and grueling process versus accepting mediocrity from an existing design invented by one's own team, creating the new, 'copied' mechanism leads to superior results in terms of both inspiration and providing awesome engineering experiences.