Teams that do not bag their robots

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I do not believe it is in the spirit of the rule to construct robot parts that were not built/designed/conceived prior to stop build. In other words, I do not believe it is in the spirit to build a drive base prior to stop build with the expectation you will build the rest of the robot later and bring it along as withholding. Yes, as an LRI I have seen 29 lb+ mechanisms come in the door.

I think a better rule would be to add something new with withholding, something has to be removed. At that point you could consider it an upgrade. Every team I have ever been a part of has always had to remove something in order to upgrade. We have never shipped a non functional robot. Everything we have ever brought in with withholding has been to improve functionality, not make it functional in the first place.

[Don Wright]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I think that's well within the abilities of the people we trust to program robots. (Or the people we trust with word processors, for that matter.) Also, ...

I didn't say teams didn't have the ability to do it... I just thinking adding additional processes to ALL teams just to try and stop/catch the VERY small amount of teams that I assume is cheating isn't moving in a positive direction. The teams that really, really, really want to cheat...will still find ways no matter what you try to do to stop it... So why add additional hoops for all of the teams to jump through because of the acts of these few teams?

I guess I don't share your view that more big brother (FIRST) is better than less...or would change anything.

Just for the record, I think we should get rid of the B&T and think that you then get rid of most of the "problems". Yes, teams now have to decide on their own how much or long they will work on the robot (and not have "mentor burnout")...but it's now in their control. Everyone does this anyway...teams that want a second robot and want to continue to improve through the season do it already.

IRT the BOM...this is already a funny area... When teams can have complete CNC'd custom gearboxes, wheels, parts, etc. from sponsors at the cost of the raw materials (which also for the record I have NO problem with and love this aspect of the competition...teams like 254 and 233 are huge inspirations to everyone), the BOM rule is sort of a formality already. It is mostly just another number to quantify another part of the competition that is similar to real world (typical design constraints are size, weight, time, and cost).