[Boltman]

Seems you are someone needs to take the lead...I would not rely on the teacher in our case the teacher or rep from the school basically goes to events not build days.

The team needs a stronger nucleus of adults that demonstrate to the kids organization. Then several kids need to be invested in doing most of the ordering etc its their bot and they should be invested in ordering the parts they need...an adult can look the list over and add as needed.

You have a budget so use it. Get tools and organizers like toolboxes or carts. get donations from tool places like Harbor Freight.

Find another team that has done this and meet with them as a group...see how they do it.

We are a small second year team and really do this out of a garage, little in the way of school support as other teams obviously have (that's getting better with success). 5 or 6 adult mentors who all have a different skill sets (Electrical, Mecahnical, Strategy and Research, Finance and Fundraising, Coding) , ONE of them is the LEAD mentor who lets us use his garage. We all work on our little piece and pitch in more or less as different stages...kids do the work with our guidance. At any one time there may only be 2 or 3 mentors around even on build days and on planning days maybe one.

An invested group of kids. With 4 to 5 leaders in that group.

As a starting team keep it simple build the simplest robot that does one thing well. Then add next season. Last year we built a goalie bot because it was easy...had success. Now our robot is much more complex to better compete...and do most things well.

Forget CAD (for now) and draw something out on paper.... build a working drive base then figure out ONE thing it should do well. Our goalie bot last year could totally block low goal frustrating many teams (even an unnamed powerhouse where we waste a minute of their time of them trying to force the ball in have scars and paint from that..they never scored that ball) its was simple but effective at that one task. We could block a bit of the High goal too and blocked shots..that's it KISS we were unique on purpose as a starting that was we were totally clueless.

Its a challenge we had mainly new kids this year as the seniors aged out...we did not have a drive-able base until week 4. Since we chose to go more complex and push our boundaries...its a challenge every year.

Treat it as a first year team and start form the ground up and lay new groundwork. Build a simple effective bot that does one thing well and then add next season more complexity. This year it might be a pusher bot for instance can only score single objects by pushing. But can push anything including noodles (unique)..and train a noodle thrower.

Thanks for being a mentor! Its can be great.