[BJC]

"Falling into the Pit" comes as a result of not building a robot that solves the problem which is "the game." The first step is to identify the problem your team is going to solve with the robot (there is more than one.) If you don't solve the correct problem then no matter how well you build your robot you will not perform well. Even once you have identified the correct problem and have began to build your robot you must be vigilant that you stay on track. It is easy to sort of wander off course trying to "force" a design to work. This eats up your build season and will result in a lower caliber robot. Because of this, it is important to take a step back every week or so and make sure you're still working your way towards solving your origional problem and not overcomplitating your robot with new problems added along the way. I would say a good rule of thumb is if what your working on doesn't seem like an ellegant or simple design then probably isn't and you need to rethink what you are doing. (I think you'll find that simple ideas generally become more complex once you actually start design/build while complex ideas generally become, well... messy.)

Its also important to consider that often robots that seem very complicated to your team are in fact not to the team that build it. Don't "fall into the pit" of building something that is too complex to finish in one build season. (On my team we have a saying. "Take how long you think it (a part) will take, then double it, then double it again, then you're aproximatly around how long it'll take.") Complex features come as a result of practice and past experience. Those teams don't just decide to build their complicated drivetrain / arm / shooter / ect out of the blue. They have built them before, know how to build them, know what not to do, and have a list of what to do better for next time. As they gain experience their complex feature no longer becomes a big deal because they've got it down to a science. That is the beauty of off-season prototyping.

Just some food for thought.