Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
Also, addressing a common misconception. Practice bots do not cost significantly more unless you build identical machines with all new parts on both every year. Reuse motors and controllers. There is nothing wrong with that.
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Just to add onto Andrew's statement, your practice bot doesn't necessarily need to be a
exact replica of the competition bot - it just needs to replicate machine function well enough that using it to practice is worthwhile.
Some teams build an alpha and a beta bot where the alpha bot is made quickly and rather sloppily (compared to the beta bot) to prove the overall concept of the beta or final robot. The design from the beta bot is then derived from the alpha bot with the alpha bot serving as a reasonably good practice tool. Since the alpha bot in this case is just proof of concept, you can get away with running used motors, gearboxes, electronics, etc.