[Pat Fairbank]

Yov,

There's no surefire way to get people motivated about FIRST at this point in the season, especially since in your case none of you have ever participated. However, you will find that once build season rolls around, people will get caught up in the exitement. And once your team members witness a competition, they'll be blown away and you won't have this problem next year (at least with people who went). However, the best you can do now, as Mr. Skierkiewicz said, is to do as much as you can yourself, and try to get your team members to help you.

As for your second problem, don't worry about having started late. Many other teams are in the same situation. In fact, until this year when we started just a few weeks ago, my team never has had any off-season activity. You are not at as much a disadvantage as you think you are. I would suggest that you forget about the 3ds max animation for the time being. It is not a required part of the competition, and many teams choose not to do it, especially rookies. It would be much more productive to focus on things that you will for sure need to build the robot, such as knowledge of mechanical and electrical components. I would even say that CAD is secondary to having a good knowledge of these.

Good luck!

-Patrick