[skimoose]

Andrew,

I agree FIRST wants more tricked out robots (don't we all), that's why programs shouldn't hybernate after, or before, the six week build. This forum shows people actively designing, if not building, new drive train components off season. That's what should be going on with sensors and autonomous, too. We can never master everything during the build season, it's just not feasable unless you're a team with more engineers than students. We are not one of those teams. We have been trying to work on robot designs off season. If we can become more proficient during the off season, we can more easily complete our tasks during the build season.

We're also one of those teams that regularly lose build days to snow. We'd love to find a way to reverse that problem, but we live with it. As far as shipping costs, yes that should definitely be addressed. Perhaps someone should design a standard shipping crate which is light weight, can be easily dismantled for storage, which is completely reusable and modular. I think the over-weight drayage charges are a bit steep, too. Our crate's volume to weight ratio isn't nearly as heavy as most shipped materials. We try to use the same crate each year, but it does take build time to get it out of long term storage, reassemble it, and build new tie downs for the new robot. That's time that would be better spent building the bot.

There are certainly many rules that can be tweeked, but overall the system isn't that bad. If anything it's fair, or unfair, to almost everyone.