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Originally Posted by Chris is me
There's a world of difference between designing a part and drawing it in CAD and putting it in an assembly. You're just making models, not designing a part.
Perhaps this is pedantic but I would also say you are not "designing" a drivetrain when you take COTS parts, decide how long four pieces of tubing should be, and then put them together in a preconfigured pattern. It's like saying building a Lego model from the instruction book is design. About the only design work being done is the choice of gearbox, wheels, and gear ratio. That's not to say COTS is bad or whatever, but using the VersaChassis isn't exactly the same as designing a custom drive at all.
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What is right for your team depends on your resources. Basically, do you have more money or more design resources? Most teams have not enough of either, but money is way easier to get more of than design and build resources. I agree with others who say that focusing design effort on the manipulator and sticking to COTS drives is a general good idea. However, it depends on the team. In the off season, you have a lot more freedom to experiment with new ideas (and usually, less money to spend), so working on custom drives is a very good idea, even if you stay COTS for another build season or two.
There's no universal right answer, there is no single optimal solution. Nothing one size fits all. Asserting facts as such is probably a bad idea.
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There are distinctions between component design and system design. It certainly still is system design.
As I posted before a fair amount of good design in industry is actually configuration.
It's a valuable skill to have, few industries fabricate everything.
We certainly can all agree that each team is unique, and there is no universal correct answer here.