Wood Chassis vs. Kit Frame

[MrForbes]

I think we've made too many vEx robots

The kit chassis is universal, which means that it's not really "right" for any specific design. The parts are designed with primary emphasis on being able to bolt it together, rather than being strong in the directions it needs to be strong, not having extra material where it doesn't need it, etc. Many parts you want to attach to it need to be mounted with a bracket to adapt it.

With a custom designed chassis, the parts can be placed where they need to be, with strength where you want. The side rails can be made the right size to attach the transmissions and bumpers to directly. The electronics board or a mechanism anchoring part can be an integral structural part of the chassis.

It's sort of like the change in cars over the past 50 years to being unibody design, where the body and chassis are mostly one piece.

As for the choice of wood...it's relatively easy to work with if you have limited shop equipment, it's easier to find folks with woodworking tools than with metalworking tools. It's readily available, and it's inexpensive. Cutting and drilling wood takes less time because it's soft. It provides good stiffness for the weight, since it is not dense, you can use thicker pieces with the same weight as metal.

There are disadvantages, such as the low bearing load it can take, so attaching points might need to be reinforced. It will break relatively easily, instead of bending as metal would.

It's also quite a paradigm shift...we all know robots are fancy machined aluminum things, not piles of lumber!