[Taylor]

I can think of a few reasons why our robot wasn't as good as it should have been.
1. Lack of experience. With half our team being rookies this year, they had little game or building experience. To make sure they were all part of the process and understood what was going on, we went slowly through the design (moreso than we should have).

2. Poor planning and follow-through. We should have taken notes on what we accomplished each day, and what was needed to finish each task. There was too much confusion, especially when key members were not there.

3. Game complexity. As was previously mentioned, this game is perhaps the most complex in terms of field elements. It took a while to get our heads completely wrapped around the intricacies of the game, and when we had built the Rack, we found it was even more difficult than we thought.

4. Lack of resources. Each part we had fabricated was done out-of-house by a gentleman kind enough to donate his time and materials (Fab2Order in Indianapolis - give him your business!). Unfortunately, this meant that there was a 2-3 day gap between part design and when we actually had the components in hand.

5. Trying to do too much. This being our third year, we really wanted to make a statement. Unfortunately, we stretched ourselves a bit too thin and wasted time on components that weren't worth it (the camera comes to mind)

6. Overestimating ourselves. We didn't do much testing; we had done a forklift in 05 and assumed we could do it again without difficulty. Wrong.

I do believe this is a worthwhile thread - by knowing our weaknesses, we can work on them and turn them into strengths. And we can be ready for them if and when they crop up again next year.
As a team, we've definitely progressed from 06 to 07. Although our robot did not perform as well as we would have liked, it gives us room to improve. Hopefully come IRI time the robot will show its potential.