Is a shifting transmission really necessary?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

...The difference between 8f/s and 12 f/s is only 2 seconds from end to end...

That means you can get to the center of the field a full second earlier. In the 2004 game, beating the opponent to the bonus ball tees and mobile goal in autonomous mode was critical to many teams' success. Two seconds is not terribly important in itself, but in competition against another robot every advantage helps.

A well-designed shifting transmission, controlled by an experienced driver (or a clever bit of software), is an advantage.