Taking the Bag out of Bag Day

[2544HCRC]

100% Agree that FIRST should just do away with bag day. Elimination would level the playing field in more than 1 way. I agree that teams that can afford multiple bots and multiple regionals are at an extreme advantage. No bag day would mean that teams would need no reason to have multiple bots, except for this year maybe when extended practice might grind robots into dust, but that is another issue.

It might also level out the playing field throughout the season. If you are a one robot, one regional team, it isn't worth it to go to a late season event currently. Many of the teams there are at a 2nd or 3rd event. Kinks have been worked out, parts changed, etc. No bag day would mean that a week 5 one robot team could redesign an entire robot after week one.

I can also see an argument for a bag AFTER your first event. this sets all kinds of interesting tradeoffs. If you are a superpower team and you put your bot out there in week one, your design can be taken and reverse engineered and tweaked. Maybe someone now makes a robot that is better than yours and meets you in week 5. Or do you wait for events later in the season to see what is going to happen and lengthen your build season? Of course, you couldn't lie to prospective mentors and spouses that "It's only six weeks..."