Is 6 the perfect number?

[LMD3130]

This post is inspired by the mentor burnout post located here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=116658
We all are very familiar with the 6 week robot deadline, something that amounts to extreme stress for students, mentors, and parents, I have come to question, with very little of an answer myself, if 6 is the perfect number. I know that many teams have very different work-time schedules, our team goes the route of every day after school (3:20pm) till about 9:30pm or 9:45pm on weekdays and on weekends we go from 11:00am (or around that) till 9:30pm or 11:00pm. This is a very tiring work schedule and you can tell it on the face of the team by the end of the season. I know teams that only meet periodically and you only show up when your specific task you can do is required, and I can imagine that being less tiring, but also causes a significant loss in robot capabilities. Is 6 weeks the perfect amount of time, I can't imagine anyone having the urge to shorten it, it proves difficult enough already to get a top of the line robot up and running, but should this time frame be expanded, or would this further stretch apart the skill level of the different types of teams. I myself am satisfied with 6, I believe that it provides you with ample time to make an "ok" robot, and provides you with a challenging time frame to make a "great" robot, and I feel that is how it should be. Please submit your opinion to this thread, I am looking forward to hearing it!