Building Robots for Cash

[Andrew Blair]

Have any teams built robots to sell them, as a fundraiser? I have seen somewhere that sanddrag said their team did, but has anyone else? We have some team and startup money, and it would be a great way to teach new kids the ropes before build season, all while making some money. We just don't know how exactly to go about it. We would be building it from scratch obviously, no First parts or restrictions.

(ebay is a scary place for robots).

[sanddrag]

Yes, you saw it on our firstwiki page.

In the Summer of 2004, members of the Circuit Breakers team 696 created a fully autonomous robot that was sent to India. Its purpose was to welcome and guide visitors around an art gallery in a museum, and tell them about different pictures on the wall. The robot used the Innovation FIRST PBASIC conrol system to navigate and it is interfaced to a mini PC to play the sound tracks. Serveral banner sensors help the robot follow a line on the floor and also tell it when it has arived at each picture. The robot is approximately 2ft square by 5 ft tall. The frame was made from 1/8" lasercut and formed steel. It is driven by two NPC battlebot motors and powered by three 33 Amp Hour 12V sealed lead acid batteries wired in parallel so it can run all day without recharging. The motors are mounted in the middle of the frame, and omni-wheels are mounted on each corner so the robot can turn very easily. With batteries, the total wieght comes in the range of 250-280 pounds.

We did it because we had to. It was basically the only way we could afford to go to Phoenix. We got payed a rather large sum of money, but in the end a fairly large sum of money was spend building it, and we didn't get the full contracted amount because it was delivered late (due to technical diffculties) so the project was more of a "cash advance" than anything.

Anyway, I'd say it is the worst thing our team has ever done partially because it wasn't school sponsored; it was done in a home garage, with the support of only maybe half of the team. There were many complications in the whole project (not necessarily technical) that made it an experience I wouldn't want to go through again. And that's all I can say.

Anyway, I'm sure if your team sets out to do it and commits to it, it can be successful for you. But I think you should get a customer before you start building it. Robots are very expensive. Also, a high degree of quality is needed because someone is actually paying money for it. And for the amount of money we are talking about, you must be willing to meet the customer's every desire. People don't spend big bucks on things that aren't incredibly extraordinary and extremely entertaining. Your robot needs to live up to every dollar that someone pays for it.

Just think carefully before jumping into large business ventures, that's all I can say. Think out all the details of what it will take to pull it off, it is not as easy as you may think.