To Shoot or Not to Shoot

[efoote868]

Said this before, quoting so I don't have to repeat myself:

Originally Posted by efoote868

If your team can gather the ball and release it in a controlled manner faster than anyone else (with a moderately fast - fast drive train), I would expect your robot to be in the elimination bracket at any regional you attend. I wouldn't be surprised if your robot made it to Einstein either.

The highest rated teams at a regional won't be there by accident, and I expect them to be excellent in more ways than just building a robot. If you're worried about building a niche robot that won't get picked by a team that lacks scouting, then you're misunderstanding one of the primary reasons to build a niche robot.

If you're in FIRST to be competitive, you need to ask your team one question: Are we going to be able to choose our alliance this year, or do we have to get picked?
And if you're most teams, you'll ask yourselves a follow up question: How can we build a robot to get picked (What must our robot do to be desirable by other teams)?