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Originally Posted by miketwalker
This is where the teams with big budgets have a much better advantage... and I think a reason why big budget teams often have much nicer robots, we just have no possible way of doing this with our budget.
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I don't think this is necessarily true... It depends on several factors:
1. Robot Cost - Obviously a cheap, simple robot is easier to reproduce.
2. "Clone" Completion - Maybe the team wants a 100% copy, but it isn't economically practical. If a 50% copy costs 1/4 as much, maybe it's worth doing instead.
3. Budgeting.
Hey man... MANY teams do this.
Not all of them are the "big spenders" we know and love. It all depends what you decide to spend your money on. Some teams pay for student travel to all events and complimentary t-shirts to team members... other teams might consider this $$$ better spent on a 2nd robot. If you find a way to put the 2nd robot into your budget at the beggining of the year, then you'll have the money for when you need it -- instead of trying to find this cash when the time comes.
It depends where your priorities are.
Personally, I always lean toward making the team more competitive, while trimming some of the "frills". In MY mind, a 2nd robot is one of the best investments one can make... although, this has a lot to do with my FIRST philosophy, and others would probably be quick to disagree.
