CIM-U-LATORS

[Dale]

The CIM-U-LATORS were always listed at 10 days out by the time you could order them which wasn't until the 17th or so. I'd love to know what the timing was of FIRST's decision to allow teams to mix and match the Banebots motors. Anyone could have easily foreseen, for example, that you'd sell a LOT of CIM-U-LATORs. I can see why they have a hard time keeping up with the P60 and P80 orders since those are largely built to order. Things like the CIM-U-LATOR, though, are one size fits all and should have been kitted and ready at kickoff.

It's possible BaneBots didn't know until late in the pre-season that they'd be supplying all those 775s and hence was late getting ready. This may have been a FIRST problem, we may never know.

On the conceptual level, I love what FIRST is trying to do here ... not insisting teams use weird motors that you can't get from other sources. I like the flexibility of teams being able to mix and match between an array of COTS motors. The idea just falls down when the source of these parts is single a little company with limited market and which isn't in a position to stock mountains of pre-built transmissions in dozens of different configurations.