Is CAD essential to all teams?

[pmangels17]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

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Don't be afraid to design only parts or subsystems of your robot first [in CAD]-- you don't need to just into the deep end.
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bold added for clarification.

This is also quite true. Designing an entire robot in CAD might not be a feasible or efficient solution for your team. However, stuff like the paper-template-to-make-gussets technique, which requires CAD, could definitely prove useful to a team trying to manufacture more accurately. Also, even rough sketches to find correct geometries or to make sure everything will fit in the space you want can be a huge help to robot construction. Additionally, this will help you get your feet wet and give you real experience with CAD during build season, while at the same time making sure that if CAD is not a solution for your team, you haven't invested so much time in it that other design approaches will no longer work.