[wasayanwer97]

Our team's process is roughly the following:

1. Watch animation
2. Read the rules, cover to cover
3. Brainstorming session- roughly 2-4 hours
4. Prototyping begins (continues on for a few days)

We use a lot of wood and scrap to prototype, simply because they are there and easy to work with. Our initial goal isn't necessarily a wonderful working model, but a proof of concept. Once a proof of concept is established, we take those two prototypes and move on to iterative prototyping while CAD team starts creating possible designs for it.

Once we see which prototypes work better, we continue from there.

Important to note that drivetrain CAD/construction occurs simultaneously with this process.

Hope that gives some sort of useful insight.