Advice for starting a new team

[EricH]

Originally Posted by TheAnsweris42

. I'm wondering what you guys think our priorities should be, as far as getting systems up and running. So far we've decided to get the drive train and the basic controls working first off, because we can score as long as we can move in this game. What else should we be focusing on at this point?

You're off to a good start. Try kitbot for a decent running robot. Also, read the manual. The whole thing. AT LEAST once, probably closer to ten times or more. At this point, focus on those, then later (once you have a working drive) figure out how you can improve your scoring (shooter, collector, pusher) and get working on that.

[Carol]

If you haven't checked this out yet, try MOEmentum: FYI - First-Year-Team Infobase. It contains weekly tips of where you should be in the build process and offers resources for additional help.

The official description: Each week, we send an e-mail to 2006 first-year teams with a summary of the current week's TIPs and resources along with links to the full text or document in this MOEmentum: FYI section of our team's website. This information will be organized by time frame relative to the build season, and will be permanently archived for reference at any time of the year.

(It isn't limited to rookie teams - anyone can use it).

http://www.moe365.org/moementum.php

Subheadings for this week's column (check out the link above for the full content - previous weeks columnns were discussed preseason and kickoff hints)

Week 1: Robot Build - Concept Feasibility
TEAM ORGANIZATION
EVALUATING TEAM MEMBER COMMITMENT
EFFECTIVE USE OF MEETING TIME
PARTS INVENTORY / TRACKING
PARTS ORGANIZATION
PURCHASING ADDITIONAL PARTS / SUPPLIES
ROBOT DESIGN/BUILD
SUB-TEAM BREAKDOWN
PLAYING FIELD / GAME COMPONENTS
STRATEGY / COMPETITION TEAM
STAYING CONNECTED
TRAVEL LOGISTICS
TEAM DINING
FIRST COMPETITION AWARDS
RESOURCES
Robot Build Excel Spreadsheet
Robot Build Microsoft Project file (requires Microsoft Project software)
Competition Team Evaluation Matrix

[TheAnsweris42]

Appreciate it - I'm reading the manual again right now, and I'll check the MOEmentum site. Many thanks