[sanddrag]

In simple terms, we did more with less. More hours, more design, more machining, more failures, more rebuilds, and in some respects, more learning (but that debate is a dead horse that has been beaten many times over). I think the availability of COTS parts these days is a fantastic luxury that us "old-timers" really wished for back in the day, and now finally have access to. It allows us to focus on higher level work, and get the basic stuff out of the way quicker.

Back in the day (2002), the CIM motors didn't have the keyed shaft we're all so familiar with now. It was a gear shaft, that only mated with a bizarre little gear that was included in the kit, and not available separately. Back in 2001 and prior, the CIM motor didn't even exist in FIRST yet.

Andy Baker is a very well-known "pioneer" in FRC gearbox design, as I'm sure we're all familiar with.

For me, I also gained a lot of knowledge in gearbox design from another lesser-known Andy. In 2003 and for a couple years thereafter, Andy Brockway of team 716 was also instrumental in developing easy-to-build gearbox designs that he shared and offered advise on within the FIRST community.

2005 was the first year that 6-wheel-drive became popular, after the poor performance of the large pneumatic wheels included in 2004's kit of parts, and the success of team 980's 6wd design in 2004.