The build schedule: how do you guys do it?

[Mark Sheridan]

Does anyone else have school finals during week 1? We lose most of week 1 because the students have finals Monday to Thursday. So we just show them the game Saturday and let them chew on it a bit before they get back to their studies.

Luckily, they get the friday off so we use that to simulate the game and come up with our design goals.

Losing the essentially the first 6 days (maybe count it as 5.5) is a big blow. Right now we are working hard on coming up with a drivetrain that we can use again and again (like 254 and 25). We really need something like that so the mentors can make sure we have the right parts in stock and ordering ones we need once we know what the game is. Be able to make small adjustment to a proven design can really help us jump ahead in the build season or rather catch up to every other team.

In regards to homework, we sort of did it unofficially this year, but next year we are going to copy team 27 and have homework sessions during the weekday meetings from 3:00 to 5:00 (maybe to 6:00 if a student as a lot or sports). We typically meet tuesday Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Tuesday and Thursday meetings are typically the least effective because of homework. I want these to be more effective by forcing students to finish their studies before working on the robots. It could also allow us to add wednesday and monday meetings without hurting the students' grades.

[Borobo]

these are our weeks for this season
1)
-start design, we already know the drivetrain and frame we're going to use (with slight game specific modification)
-machining team begins manufacturing frame on Cnc
-order parts we know we'll need (bearings, wheels, axle, gears, etc.)
2)
-prototype, think, design manipulators, game specific systems, and intermediary elements (stuff to get the manipulator to the game piece)
-begin manufacturing the above on manual mills, lathes, CNC if necessary, but our frame is very machining heavy
-begin manufacturing gearboxes
3)
-recieve ordered parts, put together gearboxes, etc.
-finish frame
-build, refine functioning drivebase
-start working on software
4)
-finish manufacturing game specific everything
-begin putting together, find tons of problems
-solve problems
5)
-finish assembly
-make adjustments for effectiveness
-finish software with closed loop control now that the robot is basically at its final mass
6)
- driver practice
-attach lexan shields and stuff
-put zip ties EVERYWHERE

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Our team generally plans as such:

1. Rules, strategy, preliminary design
2. Design,
3. Frame, welding, chassis, programming, preliminary electrical
4. electrical, manipulator, bumpers
5. install code, finish subsystems
6. practice

This past season, we ran into a case of the lack-of-funds and had to build our robot on a shoestring budget which complicated and extended the duration of week 2/design. Then we couldn't find an available welder until week 4, thus losing week 6 entirely and most of week 5; mostly due to a lack of preseason planning. Other than those two issues, this worked fairly well for us.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

Our team generally plans as such:

1. Rules, strategy, preliminary design

22 post before some even posted Strategy as a week 1 goal!

If you don't figure out a strategy for how to play/win the game how will you know what to build?

The first thing you have to do is figure out how to play the game before coming up with any mechanisms/designs. If you go straight into designing the parts first, you will miss something.