[JesseK]

I see 111's video itself as inspiring...though we won't ever have the chance to put our hybrid drive train against theres unless we see them in Atlanta. Rookie teams will always be rookie teams no matter what -- most will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data that's out there for solving the game. A few of those will understand that for the moment, simple is better. It's expected, and has always been as 'level' of a playing field as the GDC can hope for with Rookies.

For the rest of us, we can get creative to come up with inexpensive, simple solutions to drive around on this surface, so that's what we should do. My team has taken on a huge challenge of a somewhat new, radical drive train that's only been seen once in FRC before. I didn't present the idea to them until January 3rd at about 7pm. Every day we question ourselves on whether we've made the right decision, but then at the end of every day I relax knowing that we've solved every problem the drive train design has given us with a simple solution.

Had the GDC not forced a wacky field into this game, I seriously doubt the other lead mentors on our team would have ever been motivated to try something that wasn't simple or easy to do for a drive train. So to me, the GDC has surpassed my expectations.