We built a practice bot this year for the first time ever. We won our first ever regional (SMR) with 234, and 3259 (both have practice bots). We were first seed in that regional.
Unfortunately for us, the drivers didnt get much time to practice driving. The programmers always had the bot and never let us have time driving. And when they weren't doing anything it was when our mentor was un able to stay for us to practice.
I want to build a second bot next year also. Hopefully have more time driving it. I dont think The mentors or Programmers have any idea how important it is to practice driving. Especially with the benefit of having the second robot to practice.
We were one of the teams interviewed by 33, hope to see the paper from it soon
