Some advice for the 2011 game

[Don Wright]

I've read thru a lot of discussions here on CD and really want to say something...

I'm seeing a lot of answers from people, new and old, along the lines of "I'm pretty sure that will be illegal". Please keep in mind that CD is a discussion place and the only real answers are from the GDC, and even those are for you to interpret. As a team that thought of an out of the box strategy that had a huge discussion concerning it where the general consensus was that it was illegal last year, I'd like to suggest you to read the answers posted here on CD as advisement but it's up to you to decide to pursue something or not.

Minibot Advice

Furthermore, since there seems to be a LOT of discussion concerning the minibot, I would like to offer one bit of advice. If you are a team that is on a tight budget, I would recommend highly that you really think about minibot designs and if you can design one that will get up without the FTC control system, motors, etc (which based on the # of threads here, many have)... I'm confident that many teams will come up with legal ways to do this and I'm sure will have "loaners" to use... I just want to throw that out before you spend a bunch of money on the control system only to find out that you didn't need it when you see robots in week one or two that don't have them... Maybe that money could be better spent elsewhere...

Just my $.02...

[SteveGPage]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

I've read thru a lot of discussions here on CD and really want to say something...

Please keep in mind that CD is a discussion place and the only real answers are from the GDC, and even those are for you to interpret. As a team that thought of an out of the box strategy that had a huge discussion concerning it where the general consensus was that it was illegal last year ...

Yes, get your answers from the GDC!

We are so glad you and your team did that, Don! You made last year a fun year to watch!

One other thing about the minis - as was mentioned during the kick-off, FLL is the first tier, FTC the second, and FRC the third. See if there are FTC teams in your area and invite them to participate with helping to build your minibot. If you don't already have a relationship with them, this could be a way to help tie your teams together - if you do have a relationship, this should be something you should be doing anyway!

Just my $0.02, too!

Steve