[evanperryg]

Originally Posted by EricH

I think that WAY too much is going to have to depend on the implementation to make the call either way unless I had said box right in front of me. Can it work? Sure. It's been done before.

#1, you're going to need to make sure that all the appropriate lights can be seen by an inspector. Fail this, and you automatically lose "Inspector Friendly" (as well as having to rebuild the board to see the lights). That being said, there aren't too many lights on the boards that actually need to be seen.

#2, you're going to need to make the access easy (you want to be able to work on the stuff when you're not on the field, right?).

#3, make sure all your plugin points--motors, sensors, main breaker/battery, and anything else--is secure, well labeled, and ideally very difficult to plug in the wrong way. (Varying sizes of Anderson custom blocks for motors work; a 15-pin or maybe a 37-pin for sensors; also make sure you've got an appropriate pigtail for your programming cable.) This isn't inspection stuff, this is so that you don't get the wrong cable into the wrong spot.

#4: FAN. You'll need to cool the box somehow, what with all the electronics there generating heat.

All of these, but especially #2 and 4. Trying to fix that thing inside of your robot between matches is going to be a nightmare if it isn't implemented right. Think about it- odds are, your electrical is already difficult to repair at events, and now it's inside a little box, and really close together. As a result of that closeness, #4 is a serious issue, too- I remember seeing a thread where someone talked about how they tried something like this, and their electrical system overheated on a regular basis. You'll definitely need some strong ventilation if you plan on making something like this.