Building the Structure of the Robot?

[ksafin]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys.

I'd obviously like to make use of nearby machine shops and possible sponsors, it's just that it's hard for me to wrap my head around the team structure of doing this.

I'm not saying it's difficult to come up with a structure or anything, either. I'm just trying to lay it out logistically in my head and would like your input.

We're going to have a team of about 30 members. The vast majority, about 22 or so, are part of the "Mechanical Team" while the other 8 are part of "Controls" which is electrical and software.

The way I see it, would we have mechanical members CADing? Making rough designs out of t slots to refine in CAD using other materials? Prototyping manipulators and mechanisms with t slots?

What I see happening is a lot of prototyping using T-Slots, 80/20, and other materials, then applying the concept in CAD but using different materials.

I doubt I'm making this clear, because I guess I don't know how to say it very clearly.

For our team, which never really had CAD guys or an emphasis on CAD, it's just hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of making it a centerpoint in our platform. (Please don't bash me or provide pointed feedback for leaving out CAD, I just wanted to get by our first year).

If you could give me some kind of outline or idea of how you make use of actual construction and CADing simultaneously, I'd appreciate it greatly. I'd just like some team structure or flow to go off of.