New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Now that we have finally shipped our bot, I need to design a new robotics lab. Our school is building a new Science & Technology Center and Robotics is getting its own dedicated classroom & workshop. We have about 1500 sq ft to work with and need to cover FRC, VEX and Lego in the same space. At this point it is an empty room 30 x 50 with 12 ft ceiling. Having spent the last six weeks living in your lab and/or borrowed workspace, what would you like to have in your dream shop? What works and what doesn't work? How would you divide the space between workshop and class room / robot corral. We need to work with lower school kids in the class room so I think we need to lock the power tools in a separate workshop, but I am open to suggestions based on experience. While we do have a budget, at this point it costs nothing to dream, So assuming that the sky's the limit:

What layout ?
What tools ?
What kind of storage?
What built in systems (air, vacuum, power) ?
Cabinets, shelves, closets?
Floor covering - workshop and classroom
Overhead systems (unistrut, power, lighting)?
Robot corral (FIRST standard playing surface surrounded by sidewalls)

Thanks for your input

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Number one concept for me would be organization. Separate cabinets for mechanical, electrical, everything. Stock up on robot parts--Victors, Spikes, anything necessary. Get good tools and lots of zip ties.

Computers--get CAD and Inventor on them to help with robot design

I'd love to have a CNC, PlasmaCAM or WaterJet to do some cutting.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

3 drill presses or cnc machines. and a complete metal shop.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

I dont have much input as we just pack our stuff in my basement and part of a biology room but its SOOOO cool you get your own shop and room and get to design it and all.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

depends if you are as lucky as we are and your school has a machine and woodshop; i would suggest making a scale playing field 27' x 28' with the driver stations and leave the rest for Vex and FLL


if not than i would probably suggest to leave an area for Vex/FLL
and create a separate room for machines( a lathe, CNC, Bandsaw, and Vert. Milling machine)

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

What layout ? Carpet area with mock field space, (half of your lay out), 1/3 of it for building, 1/3 for Machines, 1/3 of remaining for a MOCK Pit so your team gets idea of working at regionals.
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What tools ? A Lathe, Mill, CNC, Drill Press, Ban saw, Grinder, Dremel, Drills, et cetra.
What kind of storage? Cabinets, Shelves, Tables with shelves underneath
What built in systems (air, vacuum, power) ? Air and Power. If you
Cabinets, shelves, closets? Many Cabinets....One for EACH sub system or group on your robot and a huge cabinet for each to put their stuff away at night possibly.
Floor covering - workshop and classroom Cement is preferable IMO because you can always lay carpet for field, and if you spill something or when its time to clean, it is easier on concrete.
Overhead systems (unistrut, power, lighting)? WHITE LIGHTS! Make sure you have white lights.


Also see if you can get a room by the wall of the building so that you can install a retractable wall/gate so you can ship your bot and move it out of the building easier.

Pavan.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Here's a few ideas from past years...

- Lots of storage and organization, with labels
- Tables in the middle of the room to allow access to all sides
- Non-slip anti-fatigue mats near the big machine tools
- Dry erase boards all over the place
- Places to hang paper everywhere else
- I always like having the safety glass area, and the non-safety glass area.
- Computers on carts to move them around - with wireless if possible
- Keep your 3 biggest use tools far enough apart so you don't bump into each other while working, but keep the path between them clear so you arn't dodging stuff while walking between them.

I'm sure you'll get lots of tool advice. I'll just put my plug in for a nice lathe. Of course, I'm in the lathe-is-more-useful-than-a-mill camp, so take that with a grain of salt.

Me and another mentor helped our team's teacher come up with a list of stuff for a robotics lab for a bond issue for a tech center. It didn't pass, but it was alot of fun developing the list. Good luck!!

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

The amount of space for equipment vs. classroom probably depends on how much equipment you can afford, and what kind of technologies you will be working with. If you are concentrating on design for CNC machines, then you'll need plenty of room for the machines and computers. If you are concentrating more on design that uses manual machining operations, then you might get by with 20 x 30 for the shop area, roughly 1/2 to 2/3 for machines and 1/3 to 1/2 for workbench/storage. A shop gets small in a hurry when you start filling it up with machines! A rollup garage type door would be really nice, both for getting machines in and crates out.

Put lots of electrical outlets in the shop, there never seem to be enough. Be sure to run 220 or possibly 3 phase to the equipment area.

Compressed air may or may not be a good idea. Think about what your machines need, if you will not be using equipment that needs it, then it might be a safer shop without compressed air.

I also like the safety/non-safety glasses area, being able to take a break in the classroom every now and then is nice.

I don't think you'll have enough room for a dedicated mock pit area, or robot corral, but you could design the classroom area as a multi-purpose room, perhaps get tables and chairs that fold up compactly, and some type of moveable divider system to give you temporary corral.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

If this room needs to function for both FRC, FVC, and FLL, I would suggest that you allot space for all your machines, get some great organizational shelves facing an entire wall away from the machines, and basically shift the entire room from FRC to FLL to FVC depending on what time of year it is. During the fall, you can leave the lego tables out, and a few general tables will do. During Build, move everything FLL onto your shelves, and haul out at least the essential FRC stuff.


FLL kids won't mess with your machines, as long as you have power shut offs and put away sharp stuff like end mills.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

That's a really good idea, having a wall permanently dividing the room into two rooms does waste some space, and limits what you can do.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

A space heater is a very welcome addition early in the morning.
A shop vac (an organized shop is a more productive shop).
One (at the very least) desktop computer dedicated to only to robotics.
Ask your school to provide a trash can just for the room.
Machinist's vise, decent quality (a vise will define the room as robotics lab)

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

you should get a built in air compressor. we have one with a 50 foot hose and it and it is sooooooo useful, we use it mostly for riveting and most importantly blowing stuff!

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

shop tool basics:

1. band saw
2. drill press
3. lathe
4. mill
5. air system
6. battery charging station

in reality that is all you need to do your work int he shop, if you would like you can get the automated version of all those tools. One more suggestion, put rubber mats around the tools, because that cutting oil does get very slippery when on the floor, trust me!

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

That's more or less what we do. We have a bit more freedom to spread outside of the "robotics room", and our machines are in another lab, but we pretty much let the FLL kids have the room during the fall. We really don't do much in there during that time, and they don't need much space. You are right- avoid dividing the room at all costs- wall create corners, and corners waste space.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Listing some tools and saying that's all you need is probably a bit too general...we have access to a sheet metal shear and brake, and a turret punch, and used them extensively in our build. Of course, our robot was designed around the equipment available! so it uses lots of sheet metal and polycarbonate.

The point is that you can build a robot many different ways, and which equipment you decide to buy will influence how you build your robot (and vice-versa). If a major emphasis of the classroom work is on computer aided design, then you'd want more computer controlled equipment; if the emphasis is more on basic mechanical design principles, then you can get by with mostly manual equipment. If you will get into welding, then having welding stuff is nice. You could make the robots mostly of wood, using wood shop equipment.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

remember to include a tapwater source. a big sink would be nice. i can't count how many times i wished our shop had a sink.
also be sure that part of your floor is carpeted with similiar carpet to that FIRST uses. this would go great in the FLL/Vex area of this shop.
as others have said, many electrical outlets would be nice, either coming out of the floor or descending from the ceiling.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Hey folks,

Thanks for the input. I think the only major decision we still need to make is the dividing wall between the workshop and the classroom. We originally envisioned it as a half glass wall (safety glass of course) to keep the noise and mess in the workshop and allow us to lock the dangerous stuff up when the lab was used by the little kids. I hear the recommendations about walls making corners, but I kind of like those corners for stoage and work stations. The dividing wall also gives us two sides for work benches or storage. Obviously we are planning on FIRST standard carpeting for the classroom/robot corral, but we were planning on plain linoleum for the workshop. I like the idea of the finished concrete. I saw a really nice epoxy finish on concrete last week at another school and I think well look into that as well. The idea of non skid-rubber mats is really helpful as well. Right now I am planning to emulate my favotite foreign car garage where the owner painted the shop floor white. When I ask why, he laughed and said that it set the standard for all his employees - clean up every mess right away, put all your tools away and you can easily find every nut that you drop - so unlike our current off grey carpet where the only way to find a part is to kneel on it.

So thanks for the great input.

Keep the ideas coming

PGR

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

I can see having a nice finished (painted) concrete floor in the shop, but linoleum would probably be a bit much...if you get any heavy equipment, you'll discover why when it's time to bring it into the shop or move it around.

Planning on keeping the shop neat and clean is a great goal!

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

About your glass dividing wall, why don't you make the bottom half storage cabinets and the top half safety glass, , that way you'll be able to see through, get more storage, and have a shelf to work on.

Also, curtains would be nice so you can curtain off where the programmers are working with the camera, so they can test basic routines in the dark, while everyone else is working.

p.s. I would also say to get some computers so you can work on autodesk while the programmers are programming.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

I noticed that it was mentioned earlier to have electrical outlets in the floor. Beware that these can become plugged up with dust/dirt/grime and then they don't work anymore.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

Your concept of havin a 'clean' area and a 'dirty' area is a good one. We have three areas, in two rooms, that we use.

The 'very dirty' room is the old auto shop, where we do the heaviest and dirtiest work, and also anything that needs a lot of space (it has higher ceilings and a large door to the outside). But, we can do without it if we have to.

The 'dirty' and 'clean' areas are in the same classroom, about 20' wide and 40' long. 90% of our work occurs here, although programming happens in a nearby classroom, as do brainstorming sessions.

The front 2/3 is carpeted classroom with tables, computers, whiteboard, etc. The back 1/3 is concrete floor with lathe, saws, drills, sanders, two maple worktables, storage. I wish we had more electrical outlets.

Also in front, but next to the room, is about 250 square feet of storage, about 50 of that for robotics stuff.

Although not dedicated as a robotics room, it serves us well



Storage, especially small lockers so students can store 'projects' without fear that someone will mistake a carefully fabricated piece as scrap and destroy it, is important. We use copier paper boxes, but something better would be, uh, better.

Hand tools need dedicated storage. If you took shop in the '70s, you probably understand what this means. Same with hand'held power tools. Set it up so ANY missing tool will be obvious with just a glance.

Large power tools can be powered by a key-operated circuit, to reduce the chances of kids working unsupervised.

Remember to get a sink for washup. A flammables cabinet. A central vacuum system for all the power tools. A welding area with serious ventilation. Smooth floors (painted, or stained then sealed, concrete is fine; epoxy can chip and degrade over time) help clean up. Good lighting, including task lighting. Good workbenches, higher than regular table level.

A painting area will be difficult, since today there are significant environmental protection issues.

What a great opportunity, good luck with it.

Re: New Robotics Lab design needs your input
 

I agree that the best way to go for a dividing wall is for the bottom half to be either just a plain wall or storage, you choose, and the top half be safety glass. That way, the kids working on Lego and Vex can look at the shop and watch you guys work from the safety of a separate room. Curtains would definitely be a useful item for testing autonomous modes. Another suggestion would be to make sure that you have floor space designated for a scale somewhere near your work tables. You'll need to weigh the robot and its various components many times while you're working on it, and believe me from experience that you don't want to have to walk far to get to your scale. Just make sure it's in an out-of-the-way corner so no one trips on it.

Also, if you could post preliminary designs when they're available and pics of the lab-in-progress, I'm sure we'd all love to see it.