pic: GBX-123 chassis example

[philso]

Originally Posted by asid61

We're usually somewhat of a tradition-led team. We recently changed officers, so I'll have to speak with the new officer team about their thoughts on plywood. Compared to the punched 1/8" 5052 we use now, pretty much anything is better.
Garolite makes it look more "professional" compared to plywood, but I feel like we could just paint over it.

You and your team should define what "look more professional" really means, what your teams overall values are and how much priority and resource your team is willing to put into building a professional looking robot. You should also look around CD for the various threads about wood robots. If done right, they can look just as professional as a robot made from metal. While it is great that your team has a history of tradition to build on, FRC requires that teams think outside of the box (and sometimes inside of the box).

How good the robot looks depends more on how you use the material and your workmanship. There was a mostly wood robot in the Tesla Division that exhibited better workmanship and looked more professional than 80% of the other robots in Tesla. Of course, there were metal robots that also looked better than 80% of the other robots in Tesla.