This is especially important if you're fairly new to designing and building mobile robots or are working alone with little outside support. First time competitors should allow five or six months to design, build, and test their robot. Carefully This contest has both bonus and penalty scoring provisions. The rules define the competition arena and robot limitations, and, more importantly, information to help plan your strategy. Updated rules are usually posted about September.
Registrants receive announcements and rule modification notices.
Maybe I'm a nut, but I watched each video many times. They show the large variety of robots that will be at the contest and the problems that plague them. Some good ideas just won't work. I've seen robot contestants with embedded an 386 computer or even an entire laptop mounted onboard. This is needless overkill, extra weight, and complicates your programming.