Need advices from veterans!

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by jab0ii

Hi, I'm a sophomore and this year I decided to fully commit to our school's robotic club. The problem is I don't know where to start learning about everything in a robot ( motors, gears, electrical, pneumatics, wheels etc..)
I wish to accumulate enough knowledge that I can literally build a First robot myself when I'm a senior. Any advices will be appreciated!

In my opinion this a great thing, I have done the same and by the end of your sophmore year you will know a little bit about everything. I totally agree with Akash. Start off by looking at previous games, robots and successful teams. 1114, 330, 217, 233, 254/968, 148, 11, 67, 987,25, 1024 are just a handful of good ones. Analyze their robots and look at what they do right. Then go back and check out the KOP and analyze each part and their uses. Learn CAD, Inventor or Solidworks. Talk to other teams and search chiefdelphi, it is a great source of info. After you are familar with these, start looking at the drivetrain. The drivetrain is a very important part of each robot. There are many different types:
-Westcoast
-6wd = rocker = skid steer
-4wd = omnis and offset omnis
-8wd
-crab
-meccum
-omni
and so on, make sure to find out about different types of gearboxes.

Find out the pros and cons of each one and design a few, CAD it out. Then after that, take a look over the electronics and pnuematics. By the end of this you should know a fairly decent amount of knowledge. Look at how to design a proper arm (1323 or 330 or 67), forklift (254/968 has) a cool one) and take a look at team pinks telescopic arm. Research is one of the most important "element of first". I hope this helps and I don't think the poofs would mind showing you a couple of their old robots in person. If you need help, just email me

have fun,

-rc