[Libby K]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

A practice robot is a great way to keep a lot of students involved throughout and beyond build season, as we have learned. Through donations, contests, FIRST Choice, and remarkably little cash, we can run 3 separate control systems like 1678 and should the opportunity ever arise, we would build a third robot. I loved watching student engagement soar this year through a marginal expense when compared to a registration fee. I would *almost* recommend teams deciding between multiple events or multiple robots to pick the latter.

Same here. Although our third base, a driving-trainer/defensive-play-practice-opponent, has a mix of new & old control components.

Our practice robot(s) have done wonders for the level of student engagement. With 114 kids, there's just no possible way all of them could get their hands on one robot if that's all we built. We would still build two+ machines even if there weren't bagging restrictions.