[jimwick]

We are a team from rural Vermont drawing from 10 different high schools, so we have our own set of problems. Nevertheless, we had a very competitive bot at the Granite State Regional this year without having much access to sophisticated technologies.

Here are some suggestions.

1. It is not necessary to use CAD. We mostly do prototyping in cardboard and plywood, and it works fine. Making full-size paper drawing of the entire bot is a HUGE help. It is possible to make pretty good drawings of the whole bot and all systems on big paper. Avoid tiny sketches that conceal the problems.

Paper and plywood have a big advantage in that they make the problem very real for the kids, which is half the battle sometimes if you're not already an expert. We have had excellent luck by making operating prototypes of subsystems (shooter, conveyor, picker-upper) out of plywood and odds and ends. When they basically work we build the final versions in a proper way. When making prototypes it is not necessary that they conform to all the rules; you just want to test the principle that makes them work.

2. We have been using the kit-bot chassis or something close to it in recent years. This has solved an enormous number of problems for us, although sometimes some kinds of solutions are foreclosed. Still, a strong positive. You can get a chassis together after a week and build on that. You can drive it around and test control.

3. We have been willing to start out with "C+" solutions and gradually improve them. We have found out that a modest design that works will be far more successful that a complicated design that doesn't. And historically these C+ bot can be gradually improved to work quite well.

4. Even if it means limiting what you do, it is very important to get the complete bot together several days before the bag date. Use the time for testing and practice. Trying to get it to work the first time at the event is a sure way to lose.

5. We have had good luck by insisting that each major subassembly exist as a separate module that can be added or removed from the bot independently. That way the devices can be developed independently without everybody getting in each other's way. We often keep a couple of alternatives "alive" right down to the last week.

6. Be patient. It gets easier every year. It really does.

Hope this helps some.