Ethics of 2 teams building 2 identical robots

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sst.thad

Route 2 is what we did in 2009/2010, and it worked but not very well.

I don't think you fully understand what I meant by Route 2.

Reread the post I made describing the 217/229 collaboration--that is what Route 2 is in essence. It's 2 robots with similar designs, but they're different in some significant way. In 217/229's case, tower placement on the base was one of the most obvious signs of a difference.

From what I understood in your post, you guys actually did "Route 4--two teams, same shop, no collaboration*", which is similar to what 254/1868 do these days. If I misunderstood you, then maybe you want to talk to Paul Copioli or JVN about both types of collaboration and see what they'd recommend (as they were both in the 217/229 collaboration and in the 217/148 collaboration).

Remember what question I said people would be asking if you did Route 3, and make sure that you have an answer ready.

*While collaboration/advice-giving can take place just due to two teams being in one shop, it isn't necessarily going to be intentional.