HELP. Team's Decision Making Process

[kht5586]

Hello,

I am a second year member of Team 5586, The Bond Brigade. Last year we were rookie all-stars out of the Wisconsin regional, and we were division finalists/rookie all-stars from Curie division.

This year, we began our design process alright, but soon, it became bogged down with unnecessary politics and arguments (Of which I was a large part). Most of the team wants to go with either a "Assist Bot" or Defense Breaker. I feel like the team just doesn't realize that we have the capabilities to build a strong competing robot and just wants to rely on getting picked for making someone else more efficient, rather than for being able to score on our own.

After doing some math, the breaker was given a score of 61, the shooter was given a 41, and the assist bot got a 60. Then a member of our team called for a vote between the breaker and assist bot, and it went 6/8.

I just felt like the team was doubting that we could actually go back to worlds off of a good robot and that they thought we HAD to rely on a "better" team picking us. They want to shoot low, while I feel like we should shoot high. People have lost track of the fact that "Design is not a democracy, the best ideas are not often the most popular".

Any advice would be welcome.