Do you build the base that is in the kit or do you start out building your own custom base?
we are building the kit base to run around the shop in until we get all of our lexan
Last year, 1293 built the kitbot in the lowrider form. It was solid, and I liked it.
Then Ockham spent two or three days here at USC. Not exactly dainty work, either–it was bumping down the brick walkways and rough paths that come with trying to go from Preston to the BA building. The only problems were a couple of loose nuts. (This is a path that even seasoned students can trip on.) That degree of durability impressed me.
As long as IFI makes it (and we don’t come up with anything better), I’ll be advocating the Kitbot.
Last year we took about an hour and built the kit base for fun. It never served much of a purpose except being a play toy around the shop. We did use it a few times to test code after ship.
Build it, give it to your programmers. They will love you.
I was slighty turned off by the kitbot when it was first introduced. I spent too much time trying to explain to people how much more advanced FRC is than big erector sets, but of course even the kitbot can be complex.
I built it. I’m also a programmer. Does that mean I love myself?
I agree. For competition, I think better frames can be built if you have the resources to do so.
Yes, although I built the transmissions last year, with a couple of my animation friends. That was quite funny because none of us knew what we were doing.
The kit base is great. The most important reason for us is that it allows us to easily build a second robot for practice after we ship the main one to storage.
Our drivers can then practice a month on the clone. This is how we did so well in the So Cal Regional last year.
Charlie Wilken
Team 634
I find that it is a good idea to build the kitbot just so you get an idea of what other teams robots may perform like.
As for using it as your competition robot, it is certianly a cheap, fast and rather durable frame/gearbox, but we often find that our own custom built frames are better for the applications in which we use them.
in our past years we tend to use the base chassis. but we modify it to our own specs. this tends to both work well and is cost efficient because you already purchased it. in the past years the metal supplied for the chassis tends to be quiet resilient. last year we took on about two robots head on we only received minor cosmetic damages. so in my own opinion yes,l would use the base chassis, but tweak it to your own specs. hope this helps, and good luck to all of you! 
We build the kit bot a little bit of customization