[ajlapp]

We use Pro-E. The models get sluggish but people rarely work inside the complete model.

We divide the design and modeling tasks amongst the individual mentor leads. They're responsible for their sub-team's assemblies. We define a coordinate system for the robot...you essentially build your parts at your default location. When you bring each sub-assembly into the master you can drop it at "default" and it goes where it belongs.

Not everyone is a professional designer though, so we have one group that manages the master model and integrates to make sure we have no interference issues.

The "macker" or deflector used a pot for positioning. The string pot in the model is from an early design. Conceptual features aren't always removed from the model.