[EricH]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

It wouldn't have been a complete set for RR, and in each case, one of them was considered not worth the level of effort by most teams, but a few restless folks trying to figure out how to do these things would usually have been time well spent, presuming the strategy sessions were also taking place.

Another useful activity for these folks would be to begin building the practice field, or at least the key elements.

I just want to expand on this a bit.

Sometimes, the strategy team will need something done to show how easy/hard something is. For example, is it easy or hard to pick a frisbee up off the floor? How about stack two totes? In those cases, a quick message from strategy to the restless mechanical team should be enough to keep mechanical interested (busy) for a few hours to a few days.

Example:
Strategy: "We think we want to do X. But we're not sure if it's a good use of time yet. Can we get a prototype?"
Mechanical: *a few hours of drilling, hammering, and sawing later* "We have a prototype for X, it's not working very well but has some promise."
Strategy: "Eh... we'll put that aside for now, what about Y?"
Repeat.

And any team that doesn't have key field elements (scoring platforms, chutes, and the like) is going to have trouble at some point. So getting those built should also be a top priority.