You'll see a lot of rookie teams show up to a competition with the same robot configuration you're talking about - so don't worry if that's what your team ends up with ---- and this is a KEY reason why it is so important to participate in a competition - it will open their minds to what's possible - even if they don't think they're ready!

Second - there are tons of resources out there with pictures and video of different robot designs and demonstrations about what each might be particularly good at.  YouTube and Flickr are searchable for this purpose.  The really cool benefit is that the kids get an idea about what might be possible without getting a good enough picture to actually copy.  Very few YouTube videos come with build instructions so they'll still need to design, adapt, and build the thing themselves.

From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott James
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 12:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VADCFLL-L] Robot to Build?

Newby here with a basic question.  We have the board and all the items built so making progress.  My son built the robot from the instruction manual that came with the kit, 9797 in the lower right hand cover of the instructions.  Then he decided to take it entirely apart to take the batteries out to replace with the rechargeable pack (not sure if it was necessary to take all apart but that was what he decided to do).  Before he rebuilds it wanted to make sure the correct design for the robot for this challenge was the 9797 build instructions.  Also, with whatever design we are supposed to build, are we better off with the rechargeable battery pack installed?

Thanks a lot for any input we can get on this,
Scott James
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