What does your team do to get everything ready for the next season? I just joined last year as a freshmen after kickoff happened and now that I am on the team for 2025. I am unsure what steps out team should take to help be the most efficient in all areas.
Our CAD, manufacturing, wiring & programming subteam have been learning and practicing since May. We will have a mock kickoff in December followed by (for our first time) a “Mock Monday”. We’ve gone though inventory and just sent orders for what we foresee we will need for the next two build seasons (more than usual this year to mitigate against potential tariff fallout).
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+1 on doing inventory. I just completed ours yesterday, and we have probably 8 orders to place in the next week or so.
The rest of the preparation you already have to have done by now… (e.g. having good fall training, etc.). Going wider on this philosophy, now is not the time to be changing things, if you can avoid it… IMHO what you practice is what you’ll do in build season…
Participate in FTC.
Biggest one is building a drive base. If you have swerve, build one of those. If you don’t, build an Andymark chassis. Either way, it’s good to familiarize all members of the team with the basics of building a robot.
Mock kickoff using either an old game or other game is helpful as well, can help you get started more easily. I’m working on a modified version of 2415’s 2021 GDC submission for our mock kickoff. I’ll make that public as soon as I finish it.
Other than that, organize your parts, see what you might need spares of before the season. Better to order now than to wait until after kickoff.
With less than two months until kickoff, I’d focus on a few key things to help your team hit the ground running. One of the best places to start is reviewing your team’s performance last season, what went well, what didn’t, and what could’ve been done better. It’s not just about the robot, think about things like team organization, how well your build process worked, or even how effective your outreach efforts were.
I’d also suggest getting your workspace in order. Make sure tools are where they’re supposed to be, machines are in good shape, and your inventory is up-to-date. Nothing’s worse than needing a specific part during the season and realizing you don’t have it, or not knowing where it is!
Another thing to focus on is setting general goals for the season. This doesn’t mean talking about strategy or what kind of robot you want to build (since the game isn’t out yet), but more about what success looks like for your team. Are you aiming to finish the robot earlier this year, involve more members in key roles, or improve on something specific like build quality or programming? Having those kinds of conversations now can really help align everyone before the chaos of kickoff.
If there’s time, working on a few small prototypes or just practicing skills (like improving a programming routine or refining some machining techniques) can also help. Even little things can make a big difference once build season starts. Good luck this year.