[Ianworld]

The rookie teams are definitely getting better each year. A rookie team made an awesome showing the NYC regional. 1880 won three or four awards. I think this is in a large part due to two things:

a) Chiefdelphi! Rookies often come here asking for help and look at old designs. The information that is on here is constnatly growing and thus it has become more and more useful to both rookies and veterans alike.

b) The main reason is however linked to the growth of two things. A better kit makes it much easier for new teams to hop in. The second is the growth of FIRST robotics products. Items like very nice custom wheels, two speed shifting gearboxes and lightweight sprockets are all easily available now. Many teams worked through years of generations to create really nice omni-wheels. Now any team can just buy one that is probably nicer than most team's produced.

The growth of easy to use and buy drivetrain parts is probaly good, but it is creating a big divide in rookie teams. I see some rookie teams with their sets of shiny $330 andymark gearboxes and 6 $40 IFI wheels and I see others who cobbeled together parts from the kit chassis and what they could scrounge from their lab to make their robot. FIRST isn't fair, but teams with money seem to be gaining a nice advantage from this. I know my team is strongly considering next year just "buying" our drivetrain because this year showed that it is pretty close to impossible to create your own superior drivetrain and its definitely not worth the headache during the 6 short weeks.

Thats it for my rant.