Hello, I need help to make a Design Matrix for the 3 primary shooting mechanisms being the Flywheel, Catapult, and Linear Puncher. Can you guys share sources to do this? Thank you!
By Design Matrix do you mean like a small chart that has each team member giving a score 1-10 about different characteristics of the design?
I would use google spreadsheets or excel to make these. If you wanted to do something really extra you could use canva, but I would just use google spreadsheets or excel.
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Can you please clarify the purpose of creating a design matrix? Is this for a class assignment, or are you trying to add more material to your notebook for competitions?
Design matrix
A design matrix is a table that can be used to help determine which solution to use when you have multiple methods (or mechanisms) to do a task*. You have already identified several mechanisms: flywheel (double flywheel shooter?), catapult, and linear puncher.
Your next step is to identify what criteria to use to determine which of the shooting mechanisms is ideal for your situation. “What? Criteria?” you may ask. Criteria are characteristics that are important (or characteristics you don’t want). For example, a criteria could be: weight, cost, volume/size, speed/effectiveness, complexity. You should choose the criteria that you believe are important.
(Optional step) Weight the criteria. Some categories are more important than others. Your team may value simplicity (generally a good trait in my opinion) over cost (if you have a lot of material lying around). You should assign weights to each category (1, 2, 3, etc.). In this case, you may not find that any one category is more important than the others. That’s fine. It makes the math easier.
Rank each design by the criteria. Assign a number (generally use 1-5) with 1 being worst and 5 being best in that category.
(Optional) If you are using weighted criteria/categories, multiply each rank by the criteria’s weight.
Sum the ranks for each design. The one with the highest value is the one you should pursue (based on your design matrix). If two designs have the same or similar values, then they are equally favorable.
Example:
Let’s say that you are using a design matrix for drivetrains. In this example, you are considering the following drivetrains: 44W Tank, 66W motor Tank, Swerve, 44W Shifting Tank, 44W Mechanum, 44W X-Drive.
Define criteria: Motor allotment/wattage used, Maximum Torque Output, Complexity
| Drivetrain | 44W Tank | 66W Tank | Swerve | 44W Shifting Tank | 44W Mechanum | 44W X-Drive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motor Allotment | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum Torque Output | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Complexity/Simplicity | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
Let’s give complexity a weight of 2 while the other categories have a weight of 1.
| Drivetrain | 44W Tank | 66W Tank | Swerve | 44W Shifting Tank | 44W Mechanum | 44W X-Drive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motor Allotment | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum Torque Output | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Complexity/Simplicity | 10 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
Sum for each drivetrain
| Drivetrain | 44W Tank | 66W Tank | Swerve | 44W Shifting Tank | 44W Mechanum | 44W X-Drive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total*** | 17 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 13 |
*Task is broadly defined. A task can be protecting the wires from other robots or what metal to use in each part of the robot to get a light and strong robot.
**Please note that this is an extreme simplification. I did not take into account gear ratios on drivetrains and other factors that would change the decision.
***The conclusions that can be drawn from the example I made looks good under a quick eyeball test–simplicity was weighted higher so the regular tank drives ranked highest.
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Hello guys thank you for the explanations but I need an actual table with data for the three and not sure what criteria I should apply
I doubt you’ll get what you’re looking for here…the vex community is not going to do your homework for you. It looks like plenty of resources have been posted for you. You might need to talk with your mentor/coach/teacher if you need additional help.
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