[Aren Siekmeier]

Back on topic, we have typically suffered from this same mistake. Nearly every year there has been some component to the game that we put off until the last minute and it was always a kludge. This year we're doing a lot better, but there are still traces of that approach. Just look at the CAD, and anywhere it doesn't reflect the actual robot accurately, you can bet we spent at least 3 times longer building it than we needed to.

And I get caught expecting a little too much of our team too. I want us to make a great machine, but I have to realize that none of the kids have the design experience to make it happen as fast as I would like, and it doesn't do them any good for me to go home and design it myself. So I was perhaps asking a lot when I wanted the CAD completely done in week 3.

Definitely don't forget about the 30lbs. A ball handling mechanism will be critical to serving an alliance well in eliminations, but it can be the simplest thing on the planet. Somehow attain balls and get them down the court, or keep them away from the the other team. I predict ball starvation to be really effective this year, but you could also make a shooting robot's life a lot easier by feeding balls directly to them. It sounds like you have something to offer in terms of the end game, so now its a matter of doing something effective in the minute and a half before that.