How Do You Make Your Robot?

[JesseK]

2006: Welded Aluminum (box, angle, 1/8" plate); 1/8" plate and 1/2" tube for mechanisms
2007: Welded box aluminum, and it took the welder 3 tries to get it right without warping; 1/4" thick honeycombed fiberglass for the ramps with KOP U channel for structure bolted to the frame
2008: Welded box aluminum, simple design; 80/20 for elevator and it was heavy, too much to maintain, and very innefficient
2009: Welded box aluminum frame; riveted plate gussets to mechanisms; used honeycombed aluminum for the floor of the bot
2010: Welded box aluminum for the frame; waterjet plate for precision mechanism parts;

2011: Most likely we will use box aluminum, welded by a sponsor again. However, during the offseason we will experiment first. We've toyed with prototypes that use C-Channel and cantilevered wheels since 3" C-Channel provides a perfect mounting channel for the AM SuperShifter. However, we like our 2010 direct-drive system, so we may to 1" box Aluminum and some waterjet plates. We have excellent CAD students this year and a potential sponsor with a waterjet so we will see what else we can do with it and 1/8" or 1/4" Aluminum plate.

[CENTURION]

Team 1306 uses mostly the C-channel from the KOP and 80/20, but also angle aluminum, flat aluminum (1" width for both), plexi, aluminum plate, a bit of PVC, and (as a last resort only) plywood

This year's robot contained all of the above (I hated having to use the wood to mount electronics and penumatics, but we were short of time)

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by CENTURION

Team 1306 uses mostly the C-channel from the KOP and 80/20, but also angle aluminum, flat aluminum (1" width for both), plexi, aluminum plate, a bit of PVC, and (as a last resort only) plywood

This year's robot contained all of the above (I hated having to use the wood to mount electronics and penumatics, but we were short of time)

Just a quick comment; Wood, when used properly, can be an effective solution to a problem.

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Just a quick comment; Wood, when used properly, can be an effective solution to a problem.

One of my firends favorite quotes:

Wood, its natures carbon fiber!

When you look at it that way, it is a much more attractive option.

[JohnFogarty]

For us it has changed every year, In the begining we welded 2mm sheet metal aluminum to make our frame, the we used 5in think 2x4, then the last 2-3 years we've used 80-20, sheet metal, Polycarbonate, even steel once.

[Garret]

Since 2001 our team has used welded aluminum square stock with lots of bolt on arms and manipulators.

Lately we have been powder coating and experimenting with sheet metal.

[CENTURION]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Just a quick comment; Wood, when used properly, can be an effective solution to a problem.

Yes, I guess so, I'm more worried about looks (I'm the teams *unofficial* lead graphic designer, and I'm terribly OCD about things like that)

[sdcantrell56]

Originally Posted by CENTURION

Yes, I guess so, I'm more worried about looks (I'm the teams *unofficial* lead graphic designer, and I'm terribly OCD about things like that)

Im going to have to question your comment about wood not looking good
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by CENTURION

Yes, I guess so, I'm more worried about looks (I'm the teams *unofficial* lead graphic designer, and I'm terribly OCD about things like that)

Say what? Can you tell me which parts of those twins are wood and which aren't? Looks pretty good to me.

Eric reminded me, http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/31598 Quite possibly one of the most visually appealing frames I have seen in a while.

[EricH]

Can you tell what parts of this are wood/not wood just by looking?

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32851 http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32671

And, does it not look good?

I don't think there are any pictures out there of 330's underside in 2007, but if you looked at it, it was wood, hogged out to reduce weight. (Areas connecting fasteners remained at full thickness.) Other robots used wood baseplates; 2005 had a built-in notch to help interface with the frame.

[CENTURION]

Ok, that's fair, I see what you mean.... It's just that whenever we use wood, it looks like junk. We only use it when we really don't have time to put together anything else, so we definitely don't have time to finish it and make it look that pretty...

And maybe I's just my personal dislike for it I much prefer aluminum and plexi.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by CENTURION

I much prefer aluminum and plexi.

How FIRST-typical of you

[Grim Tuesday]

We use welded aluminum T-Slot extrusions.

[Phreadumb]

How do you make your robot?
Re: With Fun!

For those looking for a more pragmatic answer:

My team used 80/20. Now I can't completely defend the use of this product because I myself would much prefer the use of customized sheet metal parts, but the reasoning behind its use was for its easy configurability and ability to reconfigure if necessary. So basically it saved building time, maintenance time, and was overall easy to use and assemble.