[Pault]

One possibility that my team did its rookie year was to construct a practice chassis (you could add a t-shirt cannon on top if you want) planned to be completed mechanically right before kickoff. Meanwhile, just train your programmers and electrical guys whatever way you see fit. Then when kickoff comes, you will get your cRIO and can hook up the robot with an frc legal system. So while your programmers are waiting for the mechanical team to do their job, they can get some practice with the practice robot.