Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
If you really want to help bump up those teams that don't have the person-power to build field elements after kickoff, then we should get someone like AndyMark to partner with first, take pre-orders for cheap field elements (You won't know what you're getting, you'll just know it's $100 for a set of field elements that year), then distribute them with the KoP at kickoff. Maybe have some assembly required (IKEA style assembly), designed to be assembled by 5 people in 4 hours or less.
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So I desperately want all the drawing improvements (so frustratingly overdue), and I'd do anything for official CAD released at kickoff. Also love the cut list hint!
My biggest thought, though, is Jon+Knufire's AndyMark discussion above. I wonder whether AM would be interested in surveying this for 2017. Don't actually manufacture or distribute anything (just prototypes). But present the idea and after kickoff say, "okay, if you'd pre-ordered the $100 kit this year, you would've gotten X. The $250 would've added Y, the $N kit added Q..."
If the hypothetical kits get a good "I'd buy that" response, maybe consider a real pilot in 2018, setup similar to the chassis opt out. Personally if AM thinks something like this is feasible, I'd trust them to give me the most critical/useful/sensitive/annoying-to-build-myself field elements for my pre-order price. If you end up not wanting to do a task, I bet someone around you would love to take that particular element off your hands.
I know this is a huge task and pressure in a dozen ways, and I wouldn't expect a yes from AM. But if so and the price points work out, this could help a lot of really striving teams. It also potentially doesn't have to be AM alone; we have so many good orgs in FRC now that the element choices could be endorsed by multiple trusted big names under NDAs (possibly with a distribution of work between them and/or branding).