[KenWittlief]

a different perspective: 95% of what goes into your robot is off-the-shelf parts and equipment

you actaully fabricate, invent or manufacture very little of whats in there

dont believe me?

make your own alum beams from alum-oxide

forge your own steel to make nuts and bolts

make you own copper wire, then create your own plastic insulation for it

build your own RC system, motors pnumatics...

you get the idea - giving us off the shelf transmissions (two versions this year!) gives teams more options, and lets rookie teams focus on more robot like stuff (sensors, auton, arms, actuators...) instead of spending most of their time creating a drivetrain just to get the bot to move.

Remember how many teams there use to be with the small drill motors attached directly to shaft to the small skyway wheels? In a sense FIRST has always given us a default drivetrain - they are just giving us better ones now.