Far more important than the actual construction of the robot is the design of it. I have seen a lot of designs (including a few of our own) that, regardless of the skilled construction, failed simply because the design was a piece of ****.
Here are a few things that should be kept in consideration:
Size
One of the main restrictions that a robot has is its size limit. It usually equates to about 60x36x30 inches and 130 lbs. Although weight is a mild problem, since there are many ways to decrease that, if the proposed design requires it to be outside of the size paramaters, it won't work.
The Game
Arguably the most important part of the design is how it relates to the game. Every year, there are two very different ways to score. In the last two years, they were putting balls in goals and moving goals into key positions. You can't do both well with the same mechanism, so you have to think about which one you want to do. Some teams try to do all of it, however "A Jack of all trades is a master of none". It is almost impossible to do everything on the field with one robot. You have to decide which way to score will be the best. Which one will get you the most points. Be sure to think this out the most, for it is the most common problem. HINT: There are only 2 minutes per match, so you should try to score the most possible points with the least amount of time and complexity. Usually balls lose that fight.
Complexity
There are a lot of designs that fail because they would take 10 weeks to build. You only have 6 weeks and 3 days. Most rookie teams will have trouble with that, because they aren't used to the amount of time construction will take. Just be careful of the time restrictions and work hard throughout the building season, not just the last week. Remember: The last week should ALWAYS be reserved for testing.
Other forces
This is a bit specific, but one thing that killed my team's original design a few years ago was that we forgot to account for friction. When you are using a lot of moving parts in order to move one thing, there will always be a lot of friction. Take friction into account, and be wary of it.
GAME TIME!
Here is a game made with flash. There are a few very basic designs, some with terrible problems with them. Try to figure out what each one has a problem with, if there is one. Good luck!
