[jgannon]

Right now, we're designing systems that we could possibly use this year. We're testing things out on last year's robot, something that would be difficult for you as a rookie. It's good to think of what potential issues you're guaranteed to face during the season, and try to solve them before kickoff. If the drivetrain motors are running at different speeds (since you're likely to be running one motor in reverse), how do you compensate so the robot will go straight? If an arm or other appendage is causing a motor to backdrive, how can you compensate? Do we want a shift-on-the-fly transmission, or is one speed enough? We didn't use pneumatics last year, so we are now also learning how they work, and how to implement them. All of these problems involve both hardware and software, and thus require thought and input from numerous students.

We aren't designing our whole robot yet, but you can bet that every robot will need a frame, a drivetrain, some sort of manipulating appendage, and sensors, so we're starting on those.