Cheesecake: How far is too far?

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

This year incentivized it more than previous years, but now that the cat's out of the bag it could really get out of hand.

Typically 3rd picks at many regions aren't that capable, so providing them a mechanism can be very overpowered.

Yep, for those that keep up with this community (and the elite teams do), the cat is definitely out of the bag (and scratching up my nice furniture!) We built 3 robots this year (a prototype style robot during weeks 1-3, and two competition ready robots). Looking back, that prototype robot could have been just as competitive as the lower half of teams at many competitions. Maybe next year we bag that robot also and bring it to competition for our 3rd alliance member. I know this is a bit extreme... but it is just a matter of time if the rules stay as is.

Originally Posted by waialua359

The old argument to not extending the build season was not to burnout mentors.
To me, that no longer holds valid.
The intensity of the program is now almost 4 months, if you expect to be competitive at the level of the elite teams that consistently make Einstein, generally speaking.

I'm having a really tough time meeting the demands of the FRC season... The season is 4 months... Students grades suffer also during these times, especially those taking several AP classes. One of my students (currently on track to be valedictorian) told me how she has gotten used to watching her grades fall while at competitions...

I Kind of miss those 6 week build seasons!