One very important part of any FRC robot is the electrical system. The robots take a beating and the wiring must be robust so your robot doesn't die at the worst times. If you can find a mentor experienced in machine wiring it would be helpful. Al Skierkiewicz did a great presentation that can be viewed by clicking on the "Attached Assets" link here
http://thinktank.wpi.edu/article/149.
Before my first year last year I watched a documentary on PBS called Gearing Up that showed 4 teams as they went through a season which helped me understand some of what it is like. It can be seen online here:
http://www.gearingupproject.org/watch-online/
Good luck and enjoy.