2013 KB on steriods

Originally Posted by 1493kd

Why is this so? We have had sub par results in our 10 years of doing it the way that we have. We dont have enough resources to devote time to custom things and would be better served using the provided frame. The rest of the team felt that this would be a good approach. I am reaching out to the chiefdelphi community asking for advice. Before I face palm in frustration could you please explain to me how my fundementals need to be rethought?

What Jeff is trying to say is you can't say you are doing a specific design for sure without even knowing what the game is. My favorite example of this is 2009, the game with regulation wheels and a low-friction playing field. If your team decided that you'd use 4" wheels and the kitbot for the 2009 season without knowing what the game was, come kickoff day you'd be disappointed to find that due to rules, restrictions, and the way the game was played, that the chassis you decided on using either isn't allowed, or isn't the best solution to the game.

He isn't saying that you shouldn't decide to use the kitbot and go custom. He's saying that you shouldn't make any decisions before you've seen the game and decided your strategy. This year we wanted a long robot (kitbot on steroids, to be exact) before seeing Rebound Rumble. After seeing it, we decided a wide robot would be advantageous for us due to more room on the bridge and a wider pickup area.