Aerial Assist--Perspective from a low-resource team

[Nuttyman54]

First off: Congratulations! That is an incredible feat for any team.

Work on code, get some sensors in there and automate some tasks (does the intake need to be in a particular position to shoot, and a different one to collect? Code it to one button, rather than making the operator remember). Get some auto code, develop multiple auto routines. Can you make it do 2 balls in auto?

Practice, practice, practice. See if there's a team nearby that has a full field, go test it out. Find out what the limitations of your machine is. Get a lot of run-time on the robot and find out what wears down or breaks. I'm sure you'll find stuff that you can improve.

Develop strategies for various situations. Can you shoot over a 60" tall defender? If not, figure out how you maneuver to avoid them. What's the easiest portion of the field or robot orientation to pick up a ball? The hardest? Train your human player on how to quickly and efficiently load the robot.

You can get to your first event with not only a working machine, but also with a team and drivers who know the robots strengths and weakness and how to play to those. You will be a more effective alliance partner because you can coordinate with your alliances on how to best leverage your robot's capabilities.

Also, make a killer reveal video. You've got 5 weeks!