Words of Advice
- Start building as early as possible, and iterate often.
- Couple motors and wheels using secure connections, supporting the wheel shaft from both sides.
- Have a power indicator LED on every circuit board, and use LEDs for debugging.
- Have two people know what is going on in every part of the project so that if one person has to step out it doesn't bottle neck the project.
- Acrylic is indeed a brittle material.
- Attach batteries using velcro rather than zip-ties, for quick battery swapping during the competition
- Beware of the temptation to buy toy versions of what you are designing to use for early prototyping. It is likely you will need to built something more robust, and you might as well practice doing that from the start. Toy parts may also require time-intensive assembly.
- Keep extra hot glue inserts, wire strippers, and other materials on-hand for when the TA shop is closed.
- Make it as easy as possible to access your circuit boards, sensors, batteries, and even wheels.
- Don't spend much time reorganizing a list of "what to do" in the beginning of the project, just start.
- Have everyone on the team taking photos.
- If it requires precise taping, find another way.
- Check that your phototransistors are not plugged in backwards.