[EricH]

Originally Posted by neoshaakti

we started a team but 90% of the people on the team have no idea about how to build a robot...what gearboxes are...etc
we really don;t have any1 to teach us, so we refered to the white papers
the white papers gave us a lot of information, but we still need to figure out a lot about how to build a robot
any suggestions?

Find your senior mentor, who can help you find a mentor team to help you through your first year's build season. This is one of the best things you can do in your first year.
You could also ask specific questions in the appropriate forum on CD (e.g. "We want a pushing robot with a speed of about xy feet/second. What gearbox/drivetrain would be best to use?" in the transmissions forum). Be careful with this method though, you could spark a war of information and learn more than you ever wanted to know.