Your teams design procedures

[Dan Petrovic]

This year we implemented a new design system.

After a failure the design process for the 06 year, I decided it was time to change the way we did it.

Originally, we simulated the game, then broke off into groups and designed the manipulator (in this case, a shooter). After eliminating most of the designs, we voted on the final one. However, no one followed through with that design and something completely different was created.

This is how things went for this year.

1) Read over game rules
2) Break up into groups and determine overall functions of the robot for that group (ie. score on bottom and middle, lift both robots 12 inches). We then simulated the game with these 6 teams.
3) After going over the simulations, the team votes on which function we want the robot to accomplish (we don't even look at the possibility of doing it all, anymore)
4) Monday, we split up into groups again and physically design how the robot completes the tasks we voted on previously. (ie. arm or elevator, wide or long base orientation)
5) A small group, determined before Kickoff, that includes the team captains and all of the sub-team leads, plus a few students who put in an application to be on this group meets in one of the rooms with any mentor that wishes to attend and we discuss pros and cons of different things (ie mecanum wheels vs omni wheels, arm mounted on front of the robot or back of the robot, shoulder joint or no shoulder joint)
6) The team got thinned out to maybe 4 or 5 students. Two kids go to town on Pro-E after this smaller group goes into more detailed design. This design is presented to professional BAE Systems Engineers who come for this Preliminary Design Review. Action items are given to design members to figure out certain parts of the robot (ie torque required for the arm, what type of motors, chain vs belts). After all of the little details have been worked out and after everything has been put into Pro-E, we hold a Final Design review (CAD Software)

The gripper was prototyped just to see what the best way of gripping the tube would be.

Then, drawings were printed for all of the parts 3 times. One for our design notebook, one for the machine notebook that goes to the machine shop, and one for the inspection notebook. All parts fabricated go through inspection. The inspector makes sure the measurements are correct and weighs the part. The weight of the part is then added to the spreadsheet. We weren't too far off with our weight this year, which is good.

We wanted to get rid of the huge design team because arguements come up and a lot of time is wasted. Also, you get people who don't really want to be there (ie. the entire animation team)

That's it. If you have any questions, PM me. I actually started a thread around this time last year to learn how other people design their robots.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=49115