[Ozuru]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

The drive coach (which has been a student on our team since a few matches into our rookie year) must be a tough negotiator, who can assert the team's strengths but is capable of recognizing a good compromise.

The human player must be good at whatever the HP does that year (this year, it may be either tote feeding or littering, depending on your robot design).

All of them must be able to handle the pressure and put a good face forward for the team.

I also agree with the post about making two robots next year. Last year, we had a prototype (Woody, named after his structural elements) and competition 'bot (Buzz, an aluminum-chassis 'bot named after Andy's other favorite toy). Practicing with Woody was a lot better than not practicing at all, but this year we built two (nearly) identical robots and bagged the incrementally better one. If it hadn't been for the hours and hours of driver practice between bag and regional, we'd never have figured out that we could pick up and carry and stack two totes at a time on the same level (totally serendipitous) or how to roll totes over (we had flipping as a thing we wanted to do, but the way that works is not at all what we planned). Without those abilities, we would not have been picked up to be part of a championship alliance.

Two robots is substantially better but almost impossible for teams with a budget. How do you handle the costs of the season with the costs of doubling your parts?