[Kevin Leonard]

A lot of people on this thread have mentioned using thin-walled aluminum as a great weight savings technique.
A lot of people on this thread have not competed at a New England event.

Some of 20's success over the years hasn't been about having the best robot at an event- but by having a robot that survives throughout the event.

Thin-walled aluminum can be weight savings, and it is true that geometry>thicker walls when it comes to making parts stronger.

But some things absolutely deserve thicker tubing and stronger materials- and when you neglect that, you sometimes pay the price when it matters most.


I put together a presentation for my team last year on how to build robots for reliability.
I won't go into it extensively, but my essential point was there are two components to reliability on a robot- durability and maintainability.
The robot needs to be durable enough to survive matches, and mechanisms need to be able to be replaced or maintained in order to keep the robot in peak condition.
Things like the frame of the robot aren't replaceable- and thus mostly not maintainable, so they need to be extra durable.

I'm not saying not to use thin-walled aluminum, because that would be ridiculous. But remember the trade-offs you make when you make parts out of certain materials. Do the math, then add a little safety factor. You might thank yourself later.