Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamHeard
You can argue that the best of both worlds is to have your students design and make something that doesn't directly have more COTS options and is more analogous to the type of things they would design in season.
Also, it probabaly wasn't intentional but your tone seems to really dismiss system level design. Effective use of COTS parts is real engineering and exists in all industries. It's really an arbitrary line anyway, in terms of a robot scoring points is a wheel really all that different from a bolt? A connector? Etc...?
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I didn't mean to dismiss anything. I will argue to my dying breath, that every part (bolt, cotter pin, wheel, rivet, screw, etc) is critical to a successful system. Just like a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, a system is only as good as its worst part. Selecting the best part for an application, only comes through luck or knowing what your doing.
Yes we are building robots right now, but my students have higher aspirations.