[dtengineering]

Each has their uses, but if we had to choose just one then I would go with aluminum for many of the reasons listed above.

Fortunately I don't and we have used wood for everything from a chassis (2004) to an arm (2005) that was 5' long, weighed 3 pounds and supported two PNW regional judges as well as the Xerox Creativity award they gave us for it, to the CNC machined turret, hand-turned 8" loader pulley, and maple bearing blocks and mini-bike motor mounts we used last year.

This year... well.... it is definitely coming back in our lift and end effector... but now that the challenge has been raised... hmmm... wooden sprockets... where can we fit one of those in to the design?

Don't be too quick to write off wood... when dealing with solid circular or rectangualar cross sections (no hollow tubes, etc.) it has one of the highest stiffness to weight ratios of any material, and in structural applications it is more fire-resistant than steel. (Uninsulated steel, that is... it gets hot and goes soft while the outside of the wood chars to form an insulating jacket.)

But yeah... for the robots... Aluminum if I had to choose.

Jason

P.S. Why, YES... my favorite airplane IS the Mosquito! How did you guess?