using gas springs? needed?

[ajlapp]

in the past i've used gas springs to help dampen arm movements, and in some cases provide significant lifting force to help an arm lift hefty weights.

last year some of the great arm robots i saw weren't using any springs, i.e. kingman/cheesy poofs, and hotbot.

what is the professional opinion out there about this. is dampening needed? can a robust software solution make this mechanical solution obsolete? would a braking method like that used by Wildstang be enough? can the victors in brake mode supply some type of dampening?

the reason i'm so interested is that my last two arms worked well but the gas springs seemed to be more of a hassle than anything. now that i have access to some decent programming students and mentors i was hoping to phase them out all together. HotBot had a huge arm last year....no shocks or springs in sight!

any opinions are welcome. thanks.