To share or not to share

[staplemonx]

Thanks It looks like we are going to share. We will have something up in a day or so

[ehochstein]

Originally Posted by staplemonx

Thanks It looks like we are going to share. We will have something up in a day or so

I can't wait to see what you guys have come up with!!

[rcmolloy]

When it comes down to it, if the thing your team is "showing" will have a significantly greater advantage at you winning regionals/champs then I personally wouldn't show it. If it were to be other miniscule things then I wouldn't have a problem. However, disclosure of such things would take me awhile before it either becomes deemed as miniscule or highly competitive.

[Peter Matteson]

I like to be surprised by different robot configurations and strategies.

I don't want to show up and see 7 clones of the same robot that got put up early in build at a regional, like in 2008 when there were Rhode Warrior clones all over.

I also don't want to get beat by someone who executes my design better than I do, which is why we didn't bring our minibot to Suffield Shakedown last year, it was to easy to duplicate so we didn't show it until WPI week 2.

However given the current witholding allowance/COTS rules I can probably replicate any good robot design I see and assemble it at an event anyway.

In any event we keep our robot generally secret from the public until Suffield Shakedown the Saturday before ship and I encourage you to do the same. I want to be surprised by creativity not bored by a bunch of group think communally designed robots.

Coopertition, right? You want to help the new people. I'd recommend not putting up the design for the whole robot, but if you see someone's been having problems with something, go ahead and show them how you did it. That's how my team is doing it.

[EricLeifermann]

I think being open is an awesome thing, as long as you're actually open and not giving us useless "teaser" photos of gears, sprocket, wheels, etc. People want to see pictures of something important if your going to share something. I think a great team to emulate in that fact is 842.

In my opinion, it's a great idea to show what you have, if it's something you want to share. Maybe you have a beautiful anodized and powder coated chassis you made. Show that off, we'd love to see it. However, if you may possibly have a game-changing revolutionary Einstein-winning idea, think before you post. It may be in the values of FIRST to help others, but sometimes there are some important things your team should keep to itself until the competitions.

Overall, it's your choice if you share or not share, and what you share if you do. Good luck this year!

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by rcmolloy

When it comes down to it, if the thing your team is "showing" will have a significantly greater advantage at you winning regionals/champs then I personally wouldn't show it.

Interesting...the year we had the most stuff out in public, earliest in the season (videos, drawings, cad renderings) was also the year we won a regional because we had a really good robot.

If you post your "secret" ideas here on CD, you might get some instant feedback that will help you either improve them even more, or else show you why they might not be such a good idea after all.

Also if other teams copy your idea because it really is a good idea, you have helped another team, and having more, better performing robots at the competitions is a good thing.

We haven't found a downside to sharing everything we're doing.

[ebarker]

"Ideas are cheap,The combination of ideas and execution and excellence and the whole process is what really matters." - Woodie Flowers

The ideas and designs are out there for robots and a great many other things in life, free for the taking if one takes the time so find these things, study, and learn from other peoples designs and idea.

At the end of the day it will be how well you execute and the excellence you bring to that process.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I think being open is an awesome thing, as long as you're actually open and not giving us useless "teaser" photos of gears, sprocket, wheels, etc. People want to see pictures of something important if your going to share something. I think a great team to emulate in that fact is 842.

I agree. I find 'teaser pics' to be really annoying and basically useless.

Originally Posted by squirrel

Interesting...the year we had the most stuff out in public, earliest in the season (videos, drawings, cad renderings) was also the year we won a regional because we had a really good robot.

If you post your "secret" ideas here on CD, you might get some instant feedback that will help you either improve them even more, or else show you why they might not be such a good idea after all.

Also if other teams copy your idea because it really is a good idea, you have helped another team, and having more, better performing robots at the competitions is a good thing.

We haven't found a downside to sharing everything we're doing.

I also agree with all of what squirrel said, especially the bit I highlighted.

We (95) talk with 885 and 3585, the two teams local to us, and do exactly this. It helps any one of us from doing something silly.

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by Wiifi

I can't wait to see what you guys have come up with!!

Here is are our initial concepts http://www.atomicrobotics.com/2012/01/cad-concepts/

[DavidGitz]

Our team chooses to share as much as possible of what we build, how we build it, how we run our team, anything and everything that may help out other teams.

The only time we don't share something is when we deem that it wouldn't help someone (trivial task, bad solution, etc) or when it is unfeasible to share due to technology/time constraints.