[KenWittlief]

Ive used MicroChips parts for many engineering designs. They are simply delightfull parts - you can get them with only 8 pins, or up to 40 or more

and they have all kinds of HW functions built in, timers counters PWM generators A to D converters, LCD and keypad interfaces

so the only thing we dont know yet is which PIC chip they are using, and how many of the functions and pins we will have access too?

Im pretty sure they all have at least one or two timers built in - bottom line is we will have to wait and see.

One thing to keep in mind in all of this. FIRST is not a robot building contest - its a program to teach students about the engineering design cycle.

Its not our purpose or intention to make the most sophisticated or elegant robot in the world - the idea is that we all start out with the same requirements, the same goals, and the same choices of what we can use, and see who comes up with the design that is most competitive.

If they threw the doors wide open and let us use whatever we want, then the winning team would be the one with the most engineers and money.

Having one hand tied behind your back by the tradeoffs you are forced to make, is part of the challenge.

and thats how it is in real-world engineering too. We cant put the most expensive parts in everything we build. Cost, performance, and time to market are a three sided triangle that must be balanced.

in the FIRST program the constraints are imposed artifically - they have to be, we only get 6 weeks. In the real world engineering programs can take anywhere from 6 months to 10 years.