I've never gotten involved with FVC or FTC, but from a distance, it seems to me the competition would be more "interesting" and the robots more diverse if you permitted a wider array of "custom" parts to be integrated alongside any "standard" kit parts.
From a cost/competitiveness standpoint, I can see people raising one of two arguments regarding this suggestion:
- A redux of the age-old FRC dilemma - FTC teams with access to more equipment and $$$ could couple the increased flexibility of the materials rules with their greater machining resources to widen the gap between the haves and have nots......or......
- FTC teams who don't want to spend money they don't have on extra Vex/whatever kit parts can now use common, inexpensive materials that are freely available to all to craft their various robot mechanisms.
Given the smaller scale of the robots involved in FTC, I'd think Argument #1 carries less water. It's harder to generate a "technology gap" between the haves and the have-nots in FTC because it's much easier to
reliably do with a couple screws and PVC what you could do with some snazzy CNC-machined piece of aluminum.
So give teams the opportunity to save a little money on kit parts while expanding the robot design creativity greatly. It's a "discount" built into the rules. It's not so important how much the kit parts cost if teams have the flexibility of seeking other lower-cost options that might better suit their own needs. A great deal of the robot would still have to be constructed from the kit, but not all. I think it would serve as a nice compromise.
I know I'd personally be more interested in FTC if the design rules had more of the flexibility of FRC. Not that anyone cares.
