Team 4334 VS 148 @IRI (Video)

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by JesseK

You'd be gone from your company in the next round of layoffs for striving to meet the lowest common denominator.

You can't exactly compare this to that. This bot, much like 148 in 2008, is the top in its class or category of robots that fill a specific need. Each year's game has some category like this. In 2006 it might be feeders/dumpers (I think 195 did this?), in 07 it might be ramp bots, in 08 lap bots (148), in 09 perhaps super cell delivery/defense, etc..

If their goal is to consistently be the best robot in this type of category, I don't see this as a goal of being the lowest common denominator, I see it as being smart about their strategy to earn gold medals. I also don't see it as taking the easier road to having a gold and not having a challenging design. 148 in 2008 didn't need to have a swerve, but it was their challenge to themselves and they still seeded high at their regionals and then won Champs. There's no need why a team cannot challenge themselves while still creating the perfect auxiliary function robot.


On another note, perhaps a thread specifically about these types of robots would be better, rather than discussing it in 4334's thread.

+0.02