For your design project you could look into making motor driven linear movement more accessible to FRC teams. From what I know of, most forms of motor driven linear movement are out of the reach of most FRC teams.
DART Linear actuators are really expensive, and belts and lead screws are somewhat difficult to work with. I've seen lots of hypothetical designs for alternate mechanisms, and I think it'd be really cool and beneficial if you could make an alternative motor driven linear actuator that is affordable for most FRC teams and can hold up against the rigor of an FRC match.