Designing A Light Robot

[MichaelBick]

Building a light robot is all about materials and geometry.

We use 2" x 1" x 1/16" wall 6061 aluminum tube everywhere, except for the drive side rails. The tube is plenty strong for FRC purposes. The only issue we have ever had with 1/16" wall tube is crushing the tube by over tightening screws. Using 7075 aluminum instead of steel and #10 screws instead of 1/4-20 helps a lot too.

As far as geometry goes, try to triangulate and use flanges to build rigid but light structures. We also try to use as little lightening as possible, preferring to use thinner materials instead.