Should our team build the hero bot for our first match and focus on driving, or should we just design our own bot and build that? We have until November and our team members can’t meet more than once a week.
First off, what is your competition schedule, then we can go from there
I would personally would say focus on the building aspect if you’re trying to make it far. The hero bot is good but it doesn’t compete at all with custom built robots. I don’t personally think driving should not be your top priority.
I assume since they have until November their first comp is in November
You can build the hero bot, but be aware that it won’t be the most competitive robot (it is intentionally designed with flaws so teams who build it will improve upon it later). Don’t get me wrong though, it is very important to practice driving as well, and to have the time to do so. Still, I would personally encourage designing and building your own robot, as you will learn so much more about the design process by doing so. However, if your team lacks experience building with the V5 system, then it may be beneficial to construct the hero bot.
If you’re looking specifically at time constraints, then designing your own robot could be more feasible than you think. Despite your restrictions on meeting practices, being only once a week, there are many things you could do outside of practice to maximize the efficiency of in-practice work. Outside of practice, your team could make design decisions over text or other communications, model the robot in CAD, work on your engineering notebook, do some programming work, etc. This would allow practice to be focused on building, tuning, testing, and drive practice.
Ultimately, the decision will be up to your team. Good luck!
One could argue just like racing, etc. it is a good driver that really makes the difference. I would say that’s only true in robotics as long as your robot can at least do everything, imo. But this also assumes you are confident in your ability to get a well oiled bot in 2 months (you can do it!). If you can’t I would say then to focus on driving and programming. Whether that’s splitting your team practice or alternating a good auton, a half decent bot (maybe the hero bot if necessary) and a good driver set you up pretty well for a 1st competition. At the very least have your robot mostly designed, and maybe start building it once your builders aren’t occupied. Good luck!
You could have the worst driver, but the best robot. You can also have the best driver, but the worst robot. It all matters to the team members and their notebook matrix that should make the final call.