Biggest Advantage/Disadvantage

[geomapguy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

Advantage: Acquiring a sponsor who wants to 3D print our robot out of aluminum

Disadvantage: Getting the sponsor a few days before bag and tag.

Offseason!!!

Originally Posted by geomapguy

Offseason!!!

The team will definitely use it in the offseason, but I'm graduating.

[fox46]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

The team will definitely use it in the offseason, but I'm graduating.

Mentor!!

[gabrielau23]

Advantage:
Funding and Team size

Disadvantage:
Machine shop and team size

[Joseph Smith]

Advantage: lots of great engineering mentors and resources

Disadvantage: lack of dedication by young team members (our team is 80% first year members this year)

[Anupam Goli]

Advantage: Our mentors and the resources we have access to.

Disadvantage: Extremely volatile mentor base (4 college student mentors). e.g. the more notorious mentor is relocating for a job and won't be able to mentor starting next season. Also, a lack of actual mechanical engineers as mentors.

[pfreivald]

Advantage: An awesome community of FIRST teams in WNY who will bend over backward to make sure you have everything you need--most especially 340 (our Bausch + Lomb sister team) and 1511.

Disadvantage: We're extremely rural (ever heard of a one-stoplight town? We don't have one of those....) The local hardware store is (a) small and (b) closes at 5 pm--and the nearest Lowe's or Home Depot is an hour away. (The end result is that we pay more than we'd like to in order to get stuff from McMaster, instead of buying locally.) The only major industry in town is a vineyard, and they won't sponsor high school activities for rather obvious reasons.

Still, we get better every year.