We asked World Festival and State-Level Robot Design Judges for tips and advice they have for teams. Here is what they shared:

1) Just saying your robot is sturdy isn’t as helpful as explaining what you did to make your robot strong.

2) Remember to credit your inspiration for different parts of your robot design and programming. Also explain how you adapted these ideas to make it work well for you. For example, “Team X showed us how to use beveled gears to transfer power. We used this idea to get power from the back to the front of our robot”

3) Your presentation doesn’t have to just be about mechanical design. Make sure to cover all aspects of the rubric in your presentation.

4) Explain aspects of your design that changed over the season. Were there missions that weren’t working well? If so, how did you determine what was going wrong? What other approaches did you consider and how did you choose a final design?

5) Do you think that some aspect of your robot, programming or strategy is unique? Tell the judges about it.

6) Be prepared to discuss how your team decided what missions to do.

7) Be able to explain your choices: Why did you pick that wheel or decide to complete a mission a certain way?

8) Keep a record of how your team made important decisions (what kind of robot to build, what missions to try, etc). These will be useful as you prepare for the presentation, but also something you can show your judges.

9) Prepare a presentation for Robot Design even if it is called “Explanation” on the Judging Flowchart.

10) Be prepared to show the judges anything they want - a specific block in your code, a minute detail, etc. They may go in a different direction than you planned. Stay flexible.

Thank you to Sam, Andersen, Srini, Arvind and Sanjay