Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture

[MichaelBick]

We have a mechanical director(me) who handles all of the coordination of the robot build. We start with a general picture of what we want the robot to look like based on our game strategy. This year we came up with a design almost exactly like 1986's robot. We then start prototyping while adjusting our original design based on our prototypes. This year by week 2 we realized a climber was out of our resources. Additionally, we thought that we could build an overall better robot by focusing on cycling, though we left an easy spot for our intake to attach(based on our prototypes). I coordinate this with the design team(which I also head). Design issues need to be dealt with in prototyping and then the new dimensions, design, etc needs to be dictated to the design team.

I recommend that this person is heavily involved in the design team. Designers tend to know the current design, design issues, dimensions needed, etc. In addition this person can coordinate with manufacturing and programming.