Robotics DreamLab

[waialua359]

We are currently working on a 2 year renovation plan for our robotics facilities.
Our plan is to "fix up" existing buildings in which we operate our robotics and feeder programs such as our media center and graphics technology center.

I would suggest visiting other programs first in your area (State) and see what other great programs are doing.
It wasnt until I visited other technology labs in our State, that we were able to come up with some great ideas for layout of potential robotics equipment and infrastructure such as electrical requirements, furniture, Air Conditioning, etc.
With that squared away, it narrowed what type of robotics equipment we could get based on cost and size.

For example,
One item that I am working to get is a waterjet from Flow. Besides the electrical requirements, we needed a 15 x 15ft space in which to house the equipment. We are barely going to make it since our existing industrial lab (old auto shop) had some old mig welding stations that we no longer used and can throw out.

Honestly, if I only had $25k, I'd stock up on lots of materials and potential robotics parts, as its too little to build a "dream" lab with.
$50k would get me a decent mill and lathe. We get ours from MSC which can get both for about $25k and the rest for the above $25k plan. Our mills/lathes run from $8k to $40 CNC-type, with all the basic accessories such as dividing heads, collets, lots of bits/cutters, DRO, coolant, and Pneumatic tool changer.
$100k would help me get all of the basic tooling to start a "dream" lab but assuming you have the facilities to support it already.

Do you have any specific equipments in mind? Then we can suggest vendors and costs.

My .02 cents.