RI3D this year?

[Abhishek R]

I know this topic has been addressed before, but I wanted to add my thoughts, though they probably don't mean too much.

I agree with the others who are on the fence. On one hand, Ri3D may be squandering robot creativity and design - that would be the most immediate observation. I know that on Kickoff 2014, I expected a ton of copies of 1114's Simbot SS. However, while that did happen, there were many variations of it and even more radical designs ranging from catapults to even a certain wheeled-shooter, so I still think there was a healthy amount of ideas out there. Moreover, I think a lot of the teams that appeared to be copies of Ri3D may have arrived there by coincidence - a low launching catapult with a horizontal roller bar is a pretty simple solution to Aerial Assist as I'm sure many teams found out.

On the other hand, Ri3D gives many teams who are struggling a basic idea of what they could possibly do. I would much rather see a copy of one of these robots than an immobile box or barely functional/inefficient mechanism. I don't even know what percentage of FRC teams, especially rookies even know about Ri3D, what with the vocal minority on CD sometimes. In the end, I think it come down to personal opinion - some will dislike it, and some will appreciate it.