[uid60001]

Akash,

Let me first thank your for extending your help to team 2554.

This year, many teams have come up good design independently. One of the successful model is similar to your team's design. Since there are a lot of the functioning robots out there, that level the playing field to some extend. The one example I witness in NY regional was the team 694. It has a very reliable robot and every thing work flawlessly on first day. It was in very dominating position at the practice and first day of competition. By third day, other team has come up idea how to defend again 694. At the end of the preliminary round, it was ranked 9th, which is out of picking postion. I guess luck was not on its side. A good design is base for success, but luck can play a very important factor in real competition.