How long for planning??

[Dominator1619]

For the past few years, because of being a team Ford FIRST team, we watch the kick-off with several team Ford First Teams. After that we have a group lunch, followed by a break down of the rules. After breaking into groups for the rules break down, we gather together and come up with viable strategies for that given game year. Sunday we take off due to religious reasons from several team members, but meet directly after school Monday morning. At that point, we review all the possible strategies, and choose a team strategy for that year. Over the next few day we sit down as a team and pool all of our ideas together, then go through each one, one at a time, and set a list of pros and cons for each idea. At that point, we chose our options for that given year and begin design. Week try to have our final design set by mid week one. By mid week two we typically have our frame built and that years given device prototyped. Once that device is perfected, construction begins on the actual device that will be on that robot. Typically by beginning to mid week 5, everything has been constructed and finished and we begin to work out all the kinks and do drive team testing. The last few days are usually spent getting the drive team practice with the robot. That being said, the more practice you can provide your drivers, the better off you'll be. A well driven robot that does nothing is almost always more effective than a poorly driven robot that does everything.