pic: OH GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE???

[roboticWanderor]

Originally Posted by joshy1323

why wouldnt u want to try to build this? it does not look too complex at all. it looks more like a few simple parts that are organized to form a complex arm. im new to this site so sorry if im asking too many questions but i am confident that if i had all the materials needed the task of making that arm would be easily done in a week. does your team have all the tools needed to make those parts or is that y u say it is too complex?

Many of the crucial parts of this design rely an a lot of mill work, something my team has very little access to, and the tid-bit that we do is very limited capacity. Piece by piece, yes this arm is relatively simple, but when put together, you need some very important parts (such as a nice big gearbox) to make the rest of it work correctly. As with any design, the more complex it is, the more specific its function, but the higher likelihood that your not going to get it to work. There are teams with access to lots of tools, and build impressive machines, with lots of complex systems that work together perfectly. Then there are the teams with less resources, yet create amazingly functional robots from the resources at hand, sticking with simple "why didn't I think of that??" solutions to problems. Each can create wonderful robots, and be very successful in the games. My team has to try and be the latter, but I dream of the former.

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm currently switching to SolidWorks 2009 SDK so I will return from finals next week in full swing. This should be completed and attached to a robot before kickoff.