[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by marshall

Andrew, can you describe your process for cramming the electronics in? Is it based in CAD or do you use cardboard or just do it free style once the rest of the robot is built? It's something we've struggled with in the last few years and I'd like to know how a team like 125 goes about it.

Thanks!

When we started laying out drive concepts and overall robot concepts, the idea of a really tiny robot was in the back of our minds the whole time. We knew from the get go that electronics, pneumatics (there are 4 big black clippard tanks on that guy, and a compressor), battery placement, etc were all going to be challenging.

Once the first pass mechanical design got to a point we had some semblance of confidence around, we created an MCO (mechanical control outline) for the electronics. Essentially this is a volume of space, in a specific place on the robot that we agreed to not use for robot mechanicals, and allow the electronics group to stuff their pieces into.

I think this first pass MCO was something like 8"X13"X6". The electronics team laid out all their parts on cardboard, and then quickly progressed to a polycarb proto board. Around this time we had completed the frame of the robot and were able to do a sanity check around sizing and positioning. We constrained the electronics to an exceptional degree to allow us to move the battery around to optimize CG placement for defense crossing. A 13lb battery in a 78lb robot has a HUGE effect on CG and therefore how smoothly we can traverse.

From there, the electronics team started making it real and attaching it all together. We made some improvements along the way like isolating the entire board on some closed cell rubber foam (to help with impact) and tightening the wiring up to a crisp state that makes it reasonably serviceable.

We're definitely not experts, but the process based around building an MCO (with confidence) is the key element I'd offer as advice.

-Brando