If you could Breakaway all over again...

[Garret]

I do realize that getting mentor help is not easy but I think the rewards for your team would be great, not just in being more competitive but in learning more, enjoying it more and in keeping the team together.

Definitely true. As a matter of fact we have been doing just that. Over the summer our team went through a complete restructuring and we have developed a plan for a sustainable program. We have already secured several thousand more dollars in funding several companies are already saying they want to supply mentors. We also have managed to secure a build site at one of the schools. We are expanding our outreach and are trying to restart the FLL programs at the Elementary schools.

[kstl99]

Originally Posted by Garret

Definitely true. As a matter of fact we have been doing just that. Over the summer our team went through a complete restructuring and we have developed a plan for a sustainable program. We have already secured several thousand more dollars in funding several companies are already saying they want to supply mentors. We also have managed to secure a build site at one of the schools. We are expanding our outreach and are trying to restart the FLL programs at the Elementary schools.

That's great to hear. Sounds like you can look forward to an exciting season.

[davidthefat]

I want to ask all of you something: What are your average budget you guys have for building the robot every year? Excluding registration fees and ect, just solely for building the robot. We still need tons of money this year, we want to get a 2nd regional, so thats an extra 5k. I think there has to be an easier way to get money. More productive way too

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

I want to ask all of you something: What are your average budget you guys have for building the robot every year? Excluding registration fees and ect, just solely for building the robot. We still need tons of money this year, we want to get a 2nd regional, so thats an extra 5k. I think there has to be an easier way to get money. More productive way too

Budget: ~$1000 to build robot. $5000 for registration. $4000 for MSC.
Mentors: College Mentors: 5 Professional Engineers: 1 (only made weekend meetings)
Students: 5 (One of whom was a German exchange student and a rookie, 2 others were just rookies)

Record: (21-21-3)

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Budget: ~$1000 to build robot. $5000 for registration. $4000 for MSC.
Mentors: College Mentors: 5 Professional Engineers: 1 (only made weekend meetings)
Students: 5 (One of whom was a German exchange student and a rookie, 2 others were just rookies)

Record: (21-21-3)

So with a team of 7 students you made a robot? I must say, impressive. We had around 40 people last year and we did mediocre

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

So with a team of 7 students you made a robot? I must say, impressive. We had around 40 people last year and we did mediocre

More students is not better if they don't work well together.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

So with a team of 7 students you made a robot? I must say, impressive. We had around 40 people last year and we did mediocre

Our team of 5 students built a competitive robot because we used what was given to us. Instead of a custom welded chassis we used the KoP C channel. Instead of an upper welded chassis we also used ANOTHER KoP C channel. Instead of custom transmissions we used the KoP Toughboxes. In fact, I would say that the only major part of our machine that wasn't KoP was the ball control system (a simple double pincher) and our kicker.

Things I would have changed: I would have gotten rid of my stupid objection to doing a simple pneumatic kicker and focused on doing that with a relatively flat trajectory at a height of ~1.5'. I also wish we had tried to check if 8wd with 4" wheels could be made to go over the bump. (All checks were done in Inventor prior to being constructed)

Things I was happy with: The 6wd worked well, the KoP frame has a little too much drop for my liking with the 8" IFI wheels though.