[Eric Scheuing]

We usually build our "second" robot first. That allows us to troubleshoot as we build, and come up with some more elegant and robust solutions to any issues we come across for the main bot. Usually we'll fabricate the parts for the main bot as soon as we have a workable solution found for whatever issues we come across, and assemble as needed.

Of course, if we're having any parts made out-of-house, we fab them all at the same time. It would be a huge waste of tooling time to have someone make the parts for us only to have to make them again a couple weeks later.