Lighter Robots

[AdamHeard]

I could go on for days, but I'll list the few that bring in the biggest weight savings for the least effort for us.

-thinner materials (both tubing wall thickness and plate in generally). Thinner extrusion tubing is far lighter and far more efficient in terms of strength.

-Plastic spacers/standoffs (they're cots from mcmaster in all sorts of sizes from $5-10 for 100 QTY) instead of custom metal.

-Smaller Fasteners. We try to only use #10-32 (which is killer strong if you check the math), and have now implemented #4-40's to supplement them in lower load spots.

-Focus on Quantity. Look at what parts you robot has a LOT of, take a small bit of weight from them (either in thinner material, pocketing, whatever is is) and it adds up fast.

-Plastic fasteners for electronics and low load spots (plastic rivets as well).

-Rivets instead of bolts for many items. We tend to add a lot of little gussets, brackets, doo-dads, wire tie downs, etc... If we bolted all these on versus rivets, it'd add up FAST!

Most of what I suggested above is pretty much effective use of COTS fasteners, and would maybe cost a team $100-200 per season versus their usual methods, but can easily save 5+ lbs without changing the function, strength, or performance of the robot. Pick up 100 1.5" long 1/4-20's with their associated washers and nuts and you'll see what I mean.