|
not just material
We haven't struggled with other teams using illegal material as much as we have struggled with other teams using parts or components (entire arms or lifts) from the previous year's competition. We were finally competitive this year because we had a machine shop owner join the team and additionally got our own machine shop up and running, so we could actually build parts and have an operational robot prior to shipping. Even at that we barely made it. This is the 4th generation of our drive train and chassis arrangement, and it truly hurts to field a less than adequate robot as we have the last 2 years because we refused to make parts prior to kickoff and we ran out of manufacturing time while some pretty well established teams show up with hardware that still has the dents from the previous year.
I'm proud of what we've done every year - gracious professionalism comes before anything else that we teach the kids. And if your team happens to come in last with a robot that was built by the book, you should feel just as proud. That code of honor means more to me than the medals from this year.
__________________
Close enough to taste it, too far to reach it
|