Bad Robots

[mfine]

So I apologize if this comes off sounding too judgmental or arrogant, but I have a question I've been wondering about for a while now.

My pre-rookie team and I went to a regional this weekend to go see the game played, and check out some of the robots. We were excited for some really innovative, great designs and fun gameplay. But when we got there, we found the reality to be a little different. In the qualifying matches we saw, most of the teams could not even pick up the ball well, let alone shoot, and the brief moments of good gameplay were provided by one good robot essentially playing the game by itself.

I guess my question is multifaceted, first - is this common in FIRST, in Aerial Assist, or was it just this regional in particular. Also, what is the build season like for teams who end up with a robot that just doesn't play the game well? Is it a lack of resources, a lack of time, or poor strategy? And most importantly, what can my rookie team do, before build season and during, to build a robot we're proud of and can play the game well?

Again, I'm truly sorry if this came off as offensive, but it was an issue that bugged many of my teammates as well, and we tried to phrase this in the most diplomatic way possible.