[Justin M.]

It makes sense to at least have a moving practice chassis. If you think about it, this is very feasible for most teams. Since we are using a custom chassis for our competition bot, we have the kit bot lying around - we actually have THREE fully assebled kitbot frames just lying around in storage, the one from this year, and two from 2005 and 2006. We are going to cut it down to the actual dimensions of this years bot, then build it up with last year's electronics and gearboxes. Not 100% accurate, but it'll work for driving practice and manuevering, but more importantly, programming. For non-rookie teams, it is very possible to build at least a moving chassis without spending a dime. You can even use last year's bot just to practice.

Now for rookie teams, its not so easy.....but can still be done, just not for free.