We get only a few minutes each build day. This will be normally only 10 minutes or so with maybe 1-2 downloads. As the build team is building a component we are programming it so that we can test both the software and mechanical as early as possible.
It is basically an Agile way of working
We setup a board bot that has the right kind of motor controls and IO.
We set it up on a rolling cart and are able to push it/spin it for work with gyro control.
For the early season work this is actually better than having a real bot because it does not drive away and we do not bend/burn anything.
As we get closer to the end of build season we took one day about 5 hours to fully tune speeds, and sensors etc with just the programming team. 2016 was the first year this was done.
This method of working also ensures that we have a minimally complete bot early in the season. Since the Mechanical and the Software have to function as a system, having one "Complete" without the other is a waste of time.
As for the hours on a complete robot... that would be 0 hours. We were still bolting things to the bot at competition and our climbing winch was not functionally complete enough to test until the last few matches at States.
Jeff