What Percent of Teams Use CAD?

[CMBrandon]

All of the teams we work with use CAD systems. We have learned a lot from them about whats needed to make it run smoothly. The part some teams tend to forget is that your peripherals are just as important to the workflow as the program and knowledge base the user has. A good mouse/keyboard with certain features can make your life WAY easier. One of our teams uses some weird 3D knob thing that works great with solidworks. When used in conjunction with a Sentinel III mouse it can really speed things up.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by CMBrandon

One of our teams uses some weird 3D knob thing that works great with solidworks. When used in conjunction with a Sentinel III mouse it can really speed things up.

One of our mentors brought in something like this a while back for the team to use for CAD, one of our kids really likes using it; I personally found it bizarre and hard to CAD with, so to each their own I guess, I'll stick with my 3600dpi laser mouse.

[Knufire]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

One of our mentors brought in something like this a while back for the team to use for CAD, one of our kids really likes using it; I personally found it bizarre and hard to CAD with, so to each their own I guess, I'll stick with my 3600dpi laser mouse.

I believe you guys are referring to this?

http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse.html

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Knufire

I believe you guys are referring to this?

http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse.html

Different version/brand in my case, but basically the same thing, yes.

[Jalerre]

Once you use a 3D mouse, it is hard to go back. It just makes it so simple to rotate and see the side of the part that you need to see.

[GeeTwo]

3946 does not use CAD systematically.

We have CADded a few assemblies over the years, sometimes with solid works, and sometimes with power point. This year's wheel layout was determined based on "CAD" simulations of crossing the various terrain defenses in power point. Last year's adaptation of dura-omni to the KoP chassis was done in solid works before we built it. The ball pickup for Aerial Assist was laid out in power point.

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

3946 does not use CAD systematically.

We have CADded a few assemblies over the years, sometimes with solid works, and sometimes with power point. This year's wheel layout was determined based on "CAD" simulations of crossing the various terrain defenses in power point. Last year's adaptation of dura-omni to the KoP chassis was done in solid works before we built it. The ball pickup for Aerial Assist was laid out in power point.

Power Point? as in microsoft PowerPoint?.... I'm guessing not

[dirtbikerxz]

Obvoiusly I could be totally wrong here, but I would guess that if a team is active enough to be engaged in Chief Delphi, than more likely than not, they will have a cad team.... just guessing

[NShep98]

I was told that this is the first year the team hasn't done any significant CADing besides what was sent out to a local shop to be machined. You can probably guess what one of our summer projects is.

[pHolmgren]

Our team just had a fully CADed robot and had our best season ever. I would recomend CADing for it helps plan out what can be done with limited space. At PNW district champs, we learned that there were only about 7 or 8 teams who CAD.
Autodesk Inventor is good.

[rlounds]

Our team has done a full CAD of the robot in SolidWorks the past couple years

[LCJ]

My team, 2468, rigorously CADs every component of the robot to ensure smooth integration and communication between the design and manufacturing teams (which are distinctly separated on the team).

However, I know that some successful teams like Cryptonite (624) doesn't CAD their robot except for few parts that require CAM. They seem to do well every year anyway though... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adkAmveee6k

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by pHolmgren

Our team just had a fully CADed robot and had our best season ever. I would recomend CADing for it helps plan out what can be done with limited space. At PNW district champs, we learned that there were only about 7 or 8 teams who CAD.
Autodesk Inventor is good.

That seems a little low. How are you estimating that? Are you just counting teams that you know did a complete robot in CAD?

[Clem1640]

FRC 1640 uses CAD (SolidWorks). I believe most teams use CAD.

With the growth of 3-D Printing and CNC/CAM, it is almost indispensable.

From a real world standpoint, it is a tremendously powerful design tool.

But knowing how to CAD is not the same as knowing how to design. CAD's just a tool. Design in the intellectual exercise.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by SoftwareBug2.0

That seems a little low. How are you estimating that? Are you just counting teams that you know did a complete robot in CAD?

Can't speak for the person you're asking, but I remember being stunned at the number of teams at Championships who didn't use CAD or only used extremely limited amounts of CAD at the 2013 Championship. You can build some fantastic robots without even a little bit of it.

In Minnesota, significant use of CAD is extremely rare. Only a few teams I talked to have a reasonably complete model of their robot, and the vast majority used it to model maybe a couple of parts.

Personally, while I personally love CAD, and would never design a robot without it, I don't push it. CAD is something you can only really do effectively if you have students/mentors/et cetera who want to do CAD. It takes a significant time investment to become competent, so the best way I've found to get people/teams interested in CAD is to get them excited about performing well and doing well at competition. A little bit of competitive spirit goes a long way.

Edit, to answer the OP:

I'll speak for the teams I have first-hand knowledge of:

2220, while I was on it (11-14), was pretty solid on getting a reasonably complete CAD model when I was on the team. Of course, most of that work ended up being me, but I believe the last couple years they've had a reasonably complete model. When I was on the team it was Creo or Pro/E, with a little bit of Solidworks, Inventor, or AutoCAD for students or mentors who preferred that. Now I believe they're almost entirely Solidworks, but you'd have to ask someone who is currently on the team about that.

2667 had no students doing CAD any of the years I worked with them. I maintained a personal model to check dimensions and explain concepts, but none of the students contributed to that model. This was due to a variety of reasons, but ultimately it worked out decently and now there are some students who are really pushing CAD for next year. I used Creo, they'll probably use Inventor.

9205 (FTC) does a CAD model of everything other than physically correct chain. I've worked with a couple of the students over the past two years to build up enough knowledge that they could probably design a reasonably complete robot in Creo without much or any input from me. This means I get to help with different things

Finally, 'Snow Problem (Ri3D) keeps a reasonably complete mechanical CAD model throughout the three days. It's almost all me on that, with a bit of Evan and Ryan contributing, particularly with 3D printing stuff. That's almost all Creo, with a bit of Solidworks for Evan.

I'm pretty sure the heavy CAD use on 3/4 of my teams is the exception, not the norm.