[Jim Zondag]

Good thread.....I agree with many points stated above.

No, you do not need to shift.
Yes, it is a good option to have.

Team 33 has make multispeed robots for many years.
As the kit had gotten better and the motors have gotten bigger, the need to shift has diminished. If you tried to get your 1999 robot to go 12-15 ft/sec you could not do it without a shifter. Now you can simply brute force the issue by throwing tons of power at it. I still like having a shifter for a couple of reasons:
1. Power budgeting: Liberating some of the good motors for something other than driving around is a good thing. After all who want to build a high speed brick that does nothing but smash into others.
2. Control: As a programmer one thing I know very well is you must have a mechanically capable design in order to have good controlabilty. In FIRST, you often have very distinct operating modes for your machine during a match: i.e. Push like crazy to get past someone and then run full speed down the field. Having gears selected for both of these actions well enables you to do both well.

Regardless, shifters are a detail. The major items of FIRST are still what they always were.....understand the game, build a reliable quality machine to play it, train you drivers to use it to its full potential. If you do these things, you can win with or without any specific machine feature.