[JVN]

Here is the general 229 plan:

This fall we prototyped a new drivetrain concept. Fully designed and built, state of the art by 2003 standards (she's a beauty).

Starting next week, (if the game allows) we'll tweak the design of this drivetrain, design in a chassis/mechanism and start building. The new drivetrain will likely handle very similarly to the prototype, despite design differences... (they'll be like siblings... somewhat different, but very much alike).

Once we get the competition robot moving and shipped, (depending on the game, and our motivation and workload) we'll take our existing prototype and put some sort of practice mechanism on top. Hopefully that will allow us a good bot for driver and autonomous practice.

Virtues of this plan:
-Gives the entire team some practice in the fall.
-Good team building.
-Lets the team experiment in some new technology without "pressure"
-Team has the time to work the bugs out of things, find major problems. Problems in design, manufacture, performance... it's greatly beneficial.
-Allows for a practice robot (driver, autonomous and pit crew training).
-SAVES TIME... if the game allows it, this drive is one less thing our designers need to worry about.

Problems of this plan:
-If our prototype robot won't fit into FIRST's game AT ALL... back to the drawing board.
-It cost us some $$$ in the fall to build our beast...
-Might not match "competition" robot perfectly.

As far as we were concerned, the benefits outweigh the negatives. I certainly valued the experience this fall, and I can't wait to build "the little sister" robot.

Everything depends on the game... Saturday can't come fast enough.

John