Using wood on a robot
 

On our Robot we are currently using wood to make sure that the noodles don't slide through. I was wondering if there was any reason we couldn't use wood on the robot. Is there any safety regulations against it? Would judges prefer it if wood was not used on any part of the robot?

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Wood is a perfectly good material to use on the robot.

We typically use some as a belly pan.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

No reason not to use wood. None at all. Some teams build their entire robot out of wood.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Yes, wood is a perfectly good material. There are some teams that make almost all of their robot out of wood.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

If there's a rule against wood than my team is screwed!

As far as I know there is no such rule anywhere and I would actually encourage you to use wood as it is light, cheap, and strong.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Team 51, the Riot Crew, built a pretty mean robot completely of wood last year.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

We're about half and half this year, wood and aluminum. One of my favorite pastimes during robot season, is trying to get a chunk of 2x4 into the robot somewhere. This year I succeeded again. Yay.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Just make sure you follow Rule W72 and use wood treated with fire retardant chemicals. We don't want an electrical spark causing a fire on the field.


Just kidding.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Neat trick! I don't recall there being any wooden motors, nor have I noticed many pneumatic actuators made of wood. Even pinewood derby cars have steel axles, polystyrene wheels and (usually) lead weights. :rolleyes:

Seriously, no reason at all not to use wood for the functions for which it is suitable. Now if I could just convince our head coach - excepting our rookie year, he has vetoed every proposed use of cellulose on the competition robot.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

It's not that there's a rule against it. It's just that wood is typically a weaker material than aluminum, and on a game more based on contact, they can suffer.

I think they will really shine this year though, considering that robot-on-robot contact will be almost non-existant.

Good luck on this final build-week!!!

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Pretty sure FRC 51 is Wings of Fire, and FRC 58 is the Riot Crew.

I think wood gets the same restrictions as anything else: use it where it's appropriate. Know the strengths and weaknesses of the material.

Wood tends to be a pretty good compositing material-- sandwich it between two metal sheets for a lighter-weight but thicker alternative to metal plates. There are all sorts of uses I can think of for wood.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Let's just say that I've seen quite a few wood bots out there, and haven't heard of too many of them getting damaged as much as you seem to think they would be. For instance, 4183 ran over a prototype frame with an older car. The car suffered a flat tire on the second attempt. I think the frame is still going.

Please don't make such a blanket statement. Wood can be nearly as strong as aluminum; it depends on the application and grade of wood in question. Gimme some baltic birch ply of appropriate grade, a laser cutter, and some proper adhesive, and I could probably build a frame that can take a beating that an aluminum bot would show battle scars from, too. I could also build an aluminum frame that would fall apart or break the first time another robot hit it. (6061 T0 aluminum, anybody?)

Also, different materials are strong in different ways. This particular fact is what makes materials engineering so interesting of a field should you choose to go deeper into that statement and enjoy the research.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

The wood PWM wires are really slick! The color coding was from the three different types of tropical hardwood used.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Team 51 is the Wings of Fire. Team 58 is the Riot Crew.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

We used a wood claw in 2007. That robot won 2 regionals, made it to Einstein, won a regional quality award and a regional and championship Industrial Design award. The claw was also featured in the 2007 behind the design book. http://www.amazon.com/FIRST-Robots-R...ind+the+design

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

http://blog.kidrobot.com/product-pre...wooden-bender/

...the way nature intended :D

Laminated wood is plenty strong and if there is any doubt; many of you are probably reading this while sitting on a floor supporting your weight on plywood.

One could argue, depending on the scope of the analysis, wood is actually more ecologically friendly. When you consider the way you get your aluminum, steel and plastic and trace it all the way back to the trees, mines and oil wells. Course wood gets a lot less ecofriendly if you use commerical fertilizers.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Its Team 58 but thanks for the compliment. Look for a lot of wood this year as well.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Use Baltic Birch plywood. Advantages often outweigh aluminum. Wood will bend without breaking and bounce back into shape (of course to a limit). We often feel that wood weight vs strength makes birch superior. Also, so darn easy to work with. Over 80 matches last year (and some really rough ones) and the bot looks like it did on bag and tag day.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Riot crew always builds such sweet (wooden) machines.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

We use wood as a base and a panel for the electronics all the time. Also, we do what we call "aluminizing" the wood to all of the piece which basically means spray paint it an aluminum color. That gets interesting during inspections occasionally. Last year the inspector went to test continuity to make sure the frame wasn't being used as a ground and put one of the multimeter probes on the "aluminized" wood base and was surprised when we told him it was wood.

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Wood this year:

spacer inside 1" square aluminum tubing
spacer inside manipulator mechanism
component of manipulator

Previously:

electrical panel

Re: Using wood on a robot
 

Wood this year:

Robot