Hey guys, I'm interested in participating in a 30 lb class combat competition that my college is hosting in around 3 weeks. I know it's a real time crunch, but is it possible to make a simple and effective bot with no prior experience?

I've been reading up on the forum here, and honestly the only type of robot that seems viable for me to make with my experience and time I have are simple wedge robots. I am interested in making a flipper but I know nothing about pneumatic systems and 3 weeks isn't enough time to learn and put one together. Other weapons such as spinners and clamps honestly seem geared towards crowd pleasing rather than being efficient weapons.

Another issue is lack of components. I live in India and it's a bit difficult to find products for niche applications like combat robots, but there is a local store which stocks several planetary geared 12v motors which I have seen recommended here many times. Hopefully these can be used for my application (do I need a separate gearbox?). A lot of general RC equipment is available and I own stuff (I'm into fpv racing) so ESCs, a radio, receiver and batteries won't be an issue.

Gonna go back to reading the build diaries and other great threads here. Would love to hear your guys' advice on how I should proceed from here.

Thanks.