Electrical Board or Distributed System?

[michchinn]

Team 5404 had a single electrical board with almost all of our electrical components attached to it this year. We ran power wires to the motors and actuators distributed throughout the robot and signal wires to our various sensors.

We are considering switching to a more distributed system, with a primary electrical board with the PDB, roboRio, VRM, and PCM attached. All of the other electrical components (motor controllers, spikes, etc.) would be distributed throughout the robot to be close to the actuators they are powering.

We think that a distributed system would be a lot more modular, though possibly more difficult to make, as the electrical board couldn't be fully made off the robot and then attached.

Which method does your team use? Why do you use it?
Thank you for any guidance you can offer.