No Team Should have to Resort to a D-bot (and how to avoid doing so)

[Katie_UPS]

If a team wants to build for defense, then good for them.

But if a team builds for defense because they think they can't do anything else... well, those are the folks I'm addressing.

Sorry to revive this after it died a little.

Also, for those who hate games where kitbots can't score: Is it really that bad to ask a team to be able to do more than just drive? It's like asking a student to do more than just show up to class...

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

Also, for those who hate games where kitbots can't score: Is it really that bad to ask a team to be able to do more than just drive? It's like asking a student to do more than just show up to class...

No, it isn't a bad thing to ask. I think in a lot of cases it is like asking a high school freshman to solve an AP Calculus BC free response question though. I've never seen hard numbers, but it has always been my impression that most FRC teams do not have a lot of technical support. Building things that work well repeatedly is hard, that's why we send engineers to school for four years and dump work on them. This still doesn't really make you an engineer, it gives you a background so you don't make a fool of yourself on your first day of work. (At least, this has been my experience)

Even if you have engineers (or mechanics/tinkerers), if they haven't done FRC before 6 weeks means you have a TON to learn in a very short amount of time. In my experience, teams that show up with a kitbot or a kitbot and a basic manipulator have often done a lot more than a student who just shows up to class and does the bare minimum, they just often don't have the tools to do more -- yet.