Practice bot morality

[Jim Zondag]

Originally Posted by Clinton Bolinger

This thread shows why FIRST should just lift the 6 week build time frame.

Having unlimited time to build would actually help the teams that have less resources. Also, I believe that some of the teams with more recourses would still build two bots, even if there was an unlimited build time frame.

-Clinton-

Amen Clint.

IMHO, the 6 week build restriction is an artifact of the early days of FRC, and is obsolete in the context of how the league now operates. The build period restriction serves primarily to keep weaker teams without the resources to buy redundant parts and equipment from doing continuous improvement. It does little to hinder the top teams. This causes quite a bit of stratifaction in the league between the 'have's' and the 'have not's'. This has gotten somewhat better now the suppliers like AM and BB can provide purchased solutions for many hard to make items, but the gap is still very obvious. Eventually this rule must die, it is really just a question of how long it takes NH to actually decide to do this.
Every step toward deregualtion that FIRST has taken in the past 20 years has served to make the robots better and the program more enjoyable. This change would be the same.