How to make your robot withstand the beating

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by RoeeVulcan

So I was wondering, what do you pro teams do to build stronger robots, that can stand the thrill of the fight?

Some simple things that we have always done:
If you have a spare functioning robot with bumpers put bumpers on your robot before bag day and just have it sit there and get slammed a few times by your old bot. This will simulate rough collisions, and match play and also allow to see if your robot is top heavy and prone to tipping. If you lack a spare robot another option would be slamming it into something sturdy solid and unimportant.


Anything that exits the frame perimeter must meet one of these two criteria:
Is solid enough to withstand a robot hitting it, and can be quickly fixed if bent or broke.
Be flimsy enough to move out of the way of another robot.

For electronics your best bet is slow and steady. Once you know what you are building and how it will look give your electronics team the dimensions for their board and let them start building it so as you get done with your robot sections they can begin laying out wiring exiting the board. This serves two purposes, it gives the students who like electronics something to do during the whole six weeks and not just the last two, and by giving them time they won't rush which will allow for connections to be solid avoiding com issues, watchdogs and other not so fun stuff

My final suggestion is make sure your drive team knows what the robot can and can not survive. Our current robot is small so we could use thick aluminum this year for our structure and everything above it was made from thick sturdy PVC board that has now gone through two regionals and championship without a bend or crack with heavy defense being played on us when ever we go out. However last year we were long and tall so when ever (rarely) someone would play defense on us we had to avoid and evade so to avoid unnecessary damage.