[DonRotolo]

A noble goal indeed. I am not sure if you can get students to pigeonhole (=limit) themselves so narrowly. One thought might be for several students to take turns at some of the less fun jobs (like Tool Specialist) as 'payment' for having a 'fun' job.

Also, you October limitation is too severe: Shoot for early December.

I offer an example of how 1676 prepares new students: We have them build a robot. The drivetrain team builds a drivetrain, chassis builds a rolling chassis, electrical wires it, pneumatics plumbs it, programming...well, you get the idea.

By Mid-November we have a working robot.

The more experienced students guide the process, mentors define the concept (cutting the "concept" phase from a week to an intense day), and when we are done, everyone understands exactly what they need to do to build the 'real' robot come January.