Building a public relations robot is almost entirely different than building robotics to survive a competition. When building your PR robots, design them more like how you would see a robot in Innoventions at Disney World than a FRC competition robot. Here are some of the design mantra that I've used when designing PR robots (FRC and FVC related).
PR robots have to look cool! Sometimes, the general public is more interested in minute little detail work than whether or not the robot actually does much. If powdercoating is an option, go for it! (Or else glossy spray paint is your friend.
) Use a lot of Lexan panels, and reverse paint them so that the paint is on the inside and won't chip/scratch. Take your time building the robot, and hold yourself to a very high quality required for the project.
Hide all the "guts" and "inner workings" of the robot [with easily removable panels]. It's sad to say, but 95% of the population doesn't care about how it works. They only care that it does work; and when they can see all the inner workings of the robot, it makes it seem like it's only halfway completed. But, when you are showing off your robot up and close to the other 5%, make it so that you can show people "what's under the hood". Lexan panels on hinges, as well as heavy laminated paper with Velcro have worked very well for us in the past.
Keep any exposed mechanisms minimalistic. If you cannot hide all of your 'bot's mechanisms, keep all exposed mechanisms simple with nice, clean lines. PR robots need to look like there was a lot of industrial design that went into them.
Wow the crowd! Tee shirt cannons! Loud music with subwoofers! Free stuff (food/beverage almost always works)! Cold Cathode (neon) Lights! Make it fast! Make it loud! Add bling! Make it "play" a sport, like hit throw a football or shoot a basketball! Make it something so simple, even your grandmother could drive it! (Notice I stated drive [the base chassis], and not operate [the arms and other mechanisms]).
And most importantly, make it fun!
