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Unread 07-08-2004, 11:04
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FRC #0330 (Beach 'Bots)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Rookie Year: 1998
Location: Hermosa Beach, CA
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Re: It is about the robots (OpEd)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Venkatesh
Its all so much like Legos.

....

This is not the first time teams have sold parts. I remember something about Team 120 a long long time ago (in a far far away galaxy) selling boards for use with their clone of the First RX. How did other teams react back then, in a time so few remember? Maybe a few ancients will enlighten us?
I remember those. I even considered buying one for the team. But I wasn't sure I could actually get it to work, being a mechanical kind of guy. I don't recall any great controversy about them. The price was close to the production cost and as I recall they were giving away the art to make your own board. But it was actually cheaper to buy theirs (at least here in CA) as you didn't have to mess with chemicals or their disposal.

But the key thing was that they were intended for off-season use only. Remember that back in those days we had to ship the electronics back every year after the competition. You could either leave the control system at your last competition or pay a deposit and keep it until September or so when it had to be returned. So without something to take its place, your robot was a pile of spare parts.

There was great rejoicing when they announced that we would be allowed to keep the control systems, but it kind of killed 120's market.

ChrisH
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