Next robotics season will be my third season. I am normally a programmer, but with so many seniors graduating and so few experienced people left, I decided it would be a good idea to learn how to build a little bit as well. Throughout the other two robotics seasons, my teams have had problems producing high quality designed and engineered robots. Is there any advice on what makes a robot design good quality (able to win design award) or bad quality?
The Purdue Sigbots Wiki helps a lot, here’s their document on the engineering design process, notebook, and interviews. All of which contribute to the Design Award. The Judging Process
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These posts all have some great tips on how to build good robots, and how to make a strong and reliable drivetrain.
So this year, I’m taking a more major role in building the robot. In the past, I’ve built small parts of the robot and even an entire robot in tower takeover but I always had a “good” builder next to me telling me what I missed and what to do next or it was just absolute garbage (what I built in tower takeover). Anyways, I was hoping some experienced builders could share some basic tips to ensure what I build is not horrible and maybe even considered good build quality.
Creating a Basic Drive
The drive is the most important part of a robot, without a solid foundation to build on, everything else becomes useless. So for a brand new team, creating a drive which is solid is going to be one of the first hurdles needed to have a decent robot. A few years ago I made a few topics about making competitive, high quality drives (which debatably, neither were).
Quality Drive #1
Quality Drive #2
As outdated and lacking as these resources are, I do still think they have…
A topic I created almost a year ago, designing a quality drive , has been a relatively frequently used resource. While I believe it’s still relevant as a resource, I’ve learned much since then and I felt it could use an update. So here we go, designing another quality drive.
Quality Drive Version II:
[Quality Drive v2.1 Isometric White]
Design Process Here I’ll be detailing the process of designing this particular drive, and explain why it is how it is.
Size
I chose to make this particular driv…
Designing a Quality Drive
A drive is the foundation of any robot, and as such it is crucial to have a quality drive if you want to have a quality robot. Yet, many newer teams struggle significantly with making a solid drive, and I’ve realized that each time someone asks for help or feedback on their drive, we have to re-explain how to properly construct a drive each time. This makes me think that the vex forum would greatly benefit from a topic that details how to make a proper drive.
Using C…
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Thanks to all of you. That helps a lot.