Roger,
Picking up on your comments about Inventor and the MAC OS X. There is no version specifically for the MAC (there is for AutoCAD). However, it does run successfully on a MAC using any of the Windows OS partition options such as Boot Camp. Here is a link from the Autodesk web page. This also applies to 3ds Max.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...12&id=13727144
I have installed both on a MAC and apart from issues with Direct X (which were resolved) it works well.
So, when the hard work for the FIRST robot design is over, you can try Inventor on a MAC!