[DaveL]

Like others have said, more space is always better.
Most teams in my area share space with the school wood shop. They have to clean up after each build day. Having a large storage area makes putting things away go much faster.

My team has a dedicated space, but our shop and build room are very small. We put wheels and computers on a table, so the programmers can work in the hallway and avoid the noise of the build room. We have also put many of our storage racks on wheels, so old robots and rarely used items are pushed into the hallway during each build day.

This year we had to drag our barriers out of the build room before we could start working.

My suggestion is to have a computer room for CAD, programming, marketing and meetings and another room for construction and assembly. If your machine tools are in the same room as where the robot is assembled, you should have a safety barrier between so people can move about with out bumping into someone using a chop saw or other equipment. Even better, have some sound proofing material or a glass wall, to cut down on noise in the assembly area.

Once you decide on what large tools are needed, the number and size of assembly tables + storage racks, draw up a floor plan with walk ways. I like Microsoft Visio for this, but other 2-D graphic tools will work.

Best of luck
Dave
Build Mentor