[Gary Dillard]

Matt I'd have to debate you on several of your assertions.

First, on the point that the game has become more complex. On the contrary I would say that the requirements have changed such that any robot with a working drive train can score points. Look at '97 (placing inner tubes up on a high goal), '98 (placing balls up on high bars), '00 (placing balls in a high trough AND hanging. If you couldn't do any of these things, your contribution to the score was ZERO! At least with the last 2 games a rookie team can get their robot moving and contribute some points - they can have the goal of building a mechanism to take it a notch further but it allows every team to compete and get some satisfaction.

Second, on loosening the parts requirements I would disagree it allows more complicated robots to be made. I would contend that it allows more teams to make complicated robots. This is very much tied to the allowable cost amount - I think having a larger amount helps the rookie teams and small teams much more than the highly funded big teams since they are usually much more engineering and manufacturing resource limited. Consider if you had to design and build your own winch versus going out and buying one, or how much additional complexity it would require if you had to work around sloppy bearings versus precision ones. And as a veteran if I've already designed a lift or arm before I can crank one out alot faster, regardless of what part limits are in the game.

I sometimes refer to this as the "SECOND" competition, because it takes your entire first year (and then some) to figure out all the lessons you need to be competitive. Are teams quitting after their rookie year because they didn't win the championship? No, they become veterans who do better each year. I loved the game this year. We chose not to build a 2x ball handler this year because of resource limitations, but there were enough aspects of the game where we could focus our efforts and be very competitive.