[Gdeaver]

I suggested birch ply as the core material for several reasons. It's cheap, available and easy to use. We do not do west coast drives. On some of our robots the belly pan is a structural member and carries significant loads. Foam core has point impact issues. There are many options for core materials. I suggest a team start with plywood and then move on to more advanced composite methods. This year our beater bar was made of a round tube of kevlar cloth and epoxy. Very light and very strong. There are many places on the bot for team made and purchased composites. I feel the most important thing is to expose students to their use.