Butterflys.

[JesseK]

I spend this time studying past years' designs and memorizing diameters/distances of COTS products. I also try to thoroughly research suppliers for the uncommon things we've used in the past but might use again. Occasionally I'll run across something I've never seen before, then bookmark it to see if it's useful/legal for the build.

This year I'm not focused on the game hints, but rather I'm trying to find more and more pictures of the past robots of the teams I try to emulate. I'm also running some tools through scenarios to have a pre-optimized set of gearing determinations for the various scenarios of game strategies so we can quickly and realistically whittle down the brainstorming ideas towards the end of kickoff weekend.

I'm also planning to take some time off to read a book that isn't related to anything technical whatsoever. This will probably be the highlight of my efforts in the weeks leading up to kickoff.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

Nah, my team just spends hours covering our test robot in aluminum foil and figuring out where we're going to mount the EM Pulse emitter.

[Ernst]

Before kickoff this year, I harnessed the butterflies by playing loads of Minecraft. There was some homework involved, but mostly Minecraft.