Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

I've recently been looking through older posts for an unrelated reason, and I saw some of Andy Grady's old question of the week posts. They seem like a pretty cool thing, so I'm going to start doing them again, some topics will be technical, others won't be. Here's the first one:

Question of the Week (6/1/14):
What is your favorite robot construction style (i.e., welded tubing, sheet metal, composite materials, etc.), why, and, in your opinion, which past robot has used it the best?

Feel free to send me suggestions for future questions over PM, especially non-technical questions as I'm more of a technical person and would like to see somewhat of an even balance.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

Sheet Metal because lasers and because 148

... In all seriousness though, 148 is my favorite sheet metal team - their robots always look so clean and effective. Raptor has got to be my favorite. I like sheet metal because you can get all kinds of interesting geometry out of it and depending on your shop setup it can be ridiculously efficient to manufacture, especially in large quantities. Plus by gaining strength from the geometry of a part (bends, hems, etc) rather than strictly material thickness you can get away with pretty light parts.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

composites and 2485. Reasoning: its light, strong and looks good.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

Sheet metal is pretty cool, and ridiculously versatile, but welded tubing certainly has its merits. It's less likely to dent and bend than sheet metal, and it's easier to get the resources to work with it.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

Greybots 973 know how to do tubing + rivets +gussets really well. I took a ot of cues from their bots when designing ours. The whole system plays really well with our capabilities, and makes assembly and modifications a breeze.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

I like box Chanel extrusion and some sheet metal. I cant stand welding but that's just me gussets all the way.

Re: Question of the Week (6/1/14)
 

Sheet metal, because it is versatile, easy to work with, and when designed properly is incredibly durable. The teams I usually look at for sheetmetal are 148 and 118. The best part is that both those teams release their cad so I usually look through their designs for inspiration.