The missing feature: A common thread

[DampRobot]

In my experience, fast fabrication correlates to high performance. It doesn't really matter if it's through a sponsor or the team simply has a lot of machines at their disposal, but being able to go from the design phase very quickly to the assembly phase seems extremely important.

Our team has a manual lathe and a CNC mill in our machine shop which, is not really comparable to the resources at the disposal of "powerhouse" teams. In order to have enough time to manufacture a practice and competition robot, we had to finish the detailed CAD by the Monday of week 2. For us, time is simply that much of an issue.

Contrasting this with 254 (for me, the local powerhouse team) reveals a large difference. Talking to mentor, I learned that they typically finished the CAD around week 3 or 4. This gives them approximately two to three times more time to prototype, strategize and design. It's hardly a surprise how dominant they were at SVR.

I don't think that this trend of designing until late and manufacturing fast is unique to the poofs. To me, being able to get parts fast allows for extra time to prototype and design for the "powerhouse" teams that "normal" teams don't have. Quick manufacturing turnaround, to me, makes all the difference.