How Do You Make Your Robot?

[s_forbes]

A quick little history on 1726's robot materials:

2006: Almost completely fiberglass pultrusion, jigsawed to shape and bolted together. Weighed a ton.
2007: Beefy pultruded fiberglass drivetrain. Arm constructed with aluminum tube, with second limb constructed from polycarbonate tube. Sheet aluminum ramp.
2008: Fiberglass/Aluminum plate chassis. All upper structures built with aluminum angle/square stock and rivets.
2009: Almost completely plywood and plumbing supplies.
2010: Almost completely welded steel tubing. Plywood electronics board.

Our most successful year: 2009, by far. (yes, the wood and plumbing one)


The biggest thing I've learned through these variations is that there is no universal best material to use for building a robot. Our material selection was based heavily on what the robot had to deal with for each year's particular game.

The other big factor that comes into play is the short time you have to build and test your robot over the 6 week build period. It is crucial to get things built as fast as possible. We were so successful in 2009 because our sponsor's shop (IEWTD) is loaded with heavy duty woodworking tools and we were able to get things built quickly. Build to your strengths!

That said, my favorite materials to work with are plywood and steel. Both are relatively easy to deal with, cheap, and fast to work with. I would never use 80-20 style extrusion for structural robot parts since it's the wrong material for the job. Use what works for you.