[AustinH]

Understanding the logic behind the Minimum Competitive Concept in conjunction with getting early practice building drivetrains in the off season (and driving the heck out of them) will put you off to a great start. Depending on your region, there are probably veteran teams in your area with old kit chassis that either went unused or are obsolete. Be sure to contact veteran teams in your area to see if you can have one (special shout out to 360 for doing just that). For a control system, even something as simple as a 4 channel RC airplane transmitter/reciever combo and some spare motor controllers (jaguars, talons, victors, etc.) is sufficient to replace a $500 cRIO/digital sidecar combo if your only goal is to drive around (though you'll still have to get a battery and an electrical distribution setup going). Our first "robot" did nothing other than trundle around at a very slow clip, but if you set up a basic obstacle course, you instantly have a Tank Drive 101 class for new drivers.

We used essentially this package right here. It won't get you programing practice, but it's a very low-cost start.