Pros and Cons of Defense

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Many have complained about the lack of defense. We were delighted to see this. Why? Year after year we have created a competitive robot. But we do not have the facilities to produce what I would characterize as an industrial type robot that will hold up to the constant pounding. A robot that could constantly take the punishment of a contact to contact defensive game without some type of breakage or failure. We envied those teams that could build a bot that withstood the punishment. This year our robot has had zero breakage or need for major repair (knock on wood) because of the lack of defense. No defense has benefitted our limitations in making a robot as robust as the elite teams.

It was very possible to build a durable robot last year with limited resources.
Two of my favorite rookies from last year were 5236 and 5254. Both had very limited resources and built awesome, robust machines that did very well.
I had the pleasure of visiting 5236's shop during this past build season. They have only hand tools and a few handheld power tools. I have yet to see either of their robots break down, and both were very competitive. They made nearly every shot I saw them take in 2014, and they made more uncapped stacks in eliminations than 20 did playing the same role this year at the Tech Valley Regional.
5254 is a beast this year, ending as Finalists at both upstate New York events this year. They have similarly limited resources, but using COTS parts made a incredible machine, making 2.5 capped stacks of 6 each match at FLR.