Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris is me
I wouldn't say they weren't worth the trouble. It was possible to build a better system custom, sure, but Rhino treads helped hundreds of teams field competitive drivetrains that could cross defenses, and I'm willing to bet at least half of those teams would not have been able to do so otherwise. They were a fine product and a good solution for this year's game. They were not free of issues, but that applies to many, MANY custom drivetrains this year as well.
While I very much could be wrong on this one, I believe 195's treads were a custom variant of the Rhino tread system as well? So more than one Einstein team was rocking treads in any case. And you can't necessarily consider lack of use as an argument against the effectiveness of a drive system that was introduced very shortly before Kickoff - many teams simply were not willing to take a risk on a new product like that in a system as critical as the drivetrain.
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We at AndyMark loved working on the Rhino, and loved seeing what teams like 195, 1747, and others came up with on ways to use the Rhino pulleys and belts in their own custom drive systems. I was amazed watching the hundreds of matches that I refereed this year and continually seeing the different drive configurations that were out there.
Also, congratulations to team 1501 who ran a stock Rhino system the whole season and made their way to Einstein and made all of us in Indiana proud!
This year was brutal on everyone, teams, robots, field crews and referees alike, but I think we can all agree that it brought the community together like very few games before it, and really allowed teams to focus on teaching moments similar to those that engineering in the real world has!