Efficient Design approach

[neoshaakti]

Our team is redesigning our 2008 robot for an upcoming off-season event that is exactly 5 weeks away. We plan to hold a mini-build season that lasts for 4 weeks; however, I am not sure of the most efficient way to do so.

Approach #1- Subteams (mech, elec and prog) work simultaneously over the course of the 4 weeks. Possible problems include meetings where a task can't get done because another subteam hasn't complete a prior task and confusion concerning the activities of other subteams. I think this approach requires very detailed planning that includes precise measurements. This kind of designing can take forever though!

Approach #2- Team agrees on a concept and a rough design on what the robot will do/look like. The Mechanical subteam fabricates and assembles all parts they are responsible for. The Mech subteam then passes it off to the electrical subteam that then creates an electrical board and wires the robot. Then the Electrical team passes the robot off to the programming team that writes the drive code and programs other robot components. The con's of this approach is that one subteam can delay the whole process for the rest of the subteams.

Which approach do you think is more efficient? Do you have any ideas for a totally different approach?

Thank you

[Lydia_1739]

1. Asses what you have
2. Determine what's feasible in the time you have
3. Spilt into subteams so that multiole things can be accomplished at once.
As for the waiting on others to finish their part; divide the work so that there is always something else that can be done while waiting. It's mostly going to how well your team can manage your time

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Lydia_1739

1. Asses what you have
2. Determine what's feasible in the time you have
3. Spilt into subteams so that multiole things can be accomplished at once.
As for the waiting on others to finish their part; divide the work so that there is always something else that can be done while waiting. It's mostly going to how well your team can manage your time

I agree and try to cad everything if possible.

[neoshaakti]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

I agree and try to cad everything if possible.

what advantages does CAD have over just drawing things out on graph paper?

[wilsonmw04]

you can make sure everything fits and you can manipulate piece virtually rather than getting something build and realizing something doesn't fit the way you though.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by neoshaakti

what advantages does CAD have over just drawing things out on graph paper?

Easier editing, precise dimensioning, better 3-D representations, straight-to-machining-drawing conversion, and easier editing.

That's a start.

[neoshaakti]

Originally Posted by EricH

Easier editing, precise dimensioning, better 3-D representations, straight-to-machining-drawing conversion, and easier editing.

That's a start.

So you can you upload a CAD file of a part to say a CNC or something?

Hmm precise dimensioning sounds very convincing.

Our team is going into our second year and we are working on expanding our design team. We are planning to use inventor. Are there and FIRST-related tutorials or will the links in this thread suffice? http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...or+Tutorial s

Thanks for all the responses

[R.C.]

To be honest, I prefer Solidworks. If you have inventor, thatz great. But the key thing is that in CAD, you can make each individual part and then make an assembly of your robot. Also individual parts can be converted to mastercam files and then to the CNC. Thatz what we do. If you need any help, email me at rcthekid1323@gmail.com. I would love to help your team with CAD and so would anyone else on Chief Delphi.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by neoshaakti

So you can you upload a CAD file of a part to say a CNC or something?

Theoretically, you can put a CAD into a CNC. However, in practice, it has to go through other programs that actually generate toolpaths.

Some people prefer to have a CAD program generate a drawing and give that to a machinist.

Oh, and the program's tutorials are usually good enough for FIRST purposes.

[R.C.]

Usually, you would want to go from Solidworks or Inventor to a CAD/CAM program. Such as MasterCam or Cadcam.

[,4lex S.]

I think that in order for the whole team to work efficiently, you should all start on the same page. If you come up with your basic design, you should be able to plan out how big your electrical board and other components should be so that the fabricators and electricians can get to work quickly. CAD is very useful, not just for part creation, but also space management (even if its just a bunch of blocks representing subsystems).

So basically what I am suggesting is that you plan the space in your robot from the get go, and make a decision on robot form that you will stick to early.

[Doctorwho]

The other benefit of using CAD is that with programs such as Solidworks and AutoCAD you can go to the FRC website or other parts suppliers such as Andymark and download 3D CAD files of parts from the FRC kit or from the company's catalog.

On 467 we used a big plotter printer to print out 2-D CAD images which we then cut out and then attached to our sheet aluminum. The benefit of this is that we could more reliably make precision cuts and drill more precisely.
More precision= less wasted material= more money for other stuff.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Doctorwho

The other benefit of using CAD is that with programs such as Solidworks and AutoCAD you can go to the FRC website or other parts suppliers such as Andymark and download 3D CAD files of parts from the FRC kit or from the company's catalog.

On 467 we used a big plotter printer to print out 2-D CAD images which we then cut out and then attached to our sheet aluminum. The benefit of this is that we could more reliably make precision cuts and drill more precisely.
More precision= less wasted material= more money for other stuff.

Agreed, Also solidworks and other Cad programs can calculate weight, stress, and other important factors. BTW, the programs are pretty close.