Beginner team, where to begin?

[purduephotog]

Originally Posted by EricH

It could mean that...

However, the controls kit could easily be ordered separately. Depending where they got the KOP from, they might/might not have a cRIO and all the other good things. If they got it from another team, it may be that the team kept the control system.

I do apologize for confusing everyone. I've been in such a rush at work trying to keep the sponsorship going and try and obtain supplies that I may have confused things.

I, personally, am transferring from one team to another. I'm also transferring the corporate sponsorship from that team to a new one. The new team was a rookie team last year- so they have 0 buildup of supplies and materials to work from.

I had about 1k left in my budget from the previous team that I wanted to outfit the new team with stuff they need- things that any team that has had 3 or 4 KOPs with would have in abundance- motors, brackets, wheels, bearings, bolts, fabric.

The new team also has no metal working equipment- so things like small gauge crimpers, wire supplies, UHF pins for cabling, resistors, soldering irons, drills, step bits, drill bits- they don't have any of that. The school I was coming from had it in spades and I had been spending about 500-1000$ a year for 5 years to build up that material.

So... yes, we have 1 cRIO- but reusing that means not having a functioning robot to test on AND (in my opinion) increases the odds of a failure at the competition. No one knows nothing about the strength / shock / survivability of the cRIO platform and it's associated hardware (except that it is VERY shock sensitive).

So I am very very grateful for all the ideas in this thread- you've given me many directions to think of and, if I am invited to join the steering committee I'll be bringing my experiences from the other team, all the research I do here, and your suggestions for this new team to the table.

(For instance- how many of you have a million pieces of key stock laying around? I used to. I have none now. Something as simple as that...)