Build Timeline

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Tim Baird

week 6: finish building, tweak, test, tweak, break, fix, ship.

We do it just like that, except the "fix" thing happens on Thursday of the competition. Now that I think about it, the "test" thing happens then too.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Tim Baird

We typically follow this:

week 1: brainstorm and mockup
week 2: finish brainstorming and mockups
week 3: finalize designs and start building
week 4: build
week 5: build
week 6: finish building, tweak, test, tweak, break, fix, ship.

week 7: check to see if the pets are still alive, ask significant others to take us back, do 6 weeks worth of make-up homework, and ask my boss for another extension.

This schedule is very accurate it just needs panic, fear, acceptance and prayer for divine intervention in week 6.

[Blue_Mist]

Yes, 766's schedule is quite similar; now add in long design sessions (four hours doesn't sound like a lot, but ideas aren't like cans and bottles- there's a limit to recycling dumped ideas), a half CADed robot on Solidworks and the occasional magical smoke, along with a potentiometer mounted backwards blamed on the programmers until someone actually looks at the hardware. Discovered at about 10pm the night before Ship Date. Of all the laws of physics and/or reality, Murphy's seems to be the most often followed. And then, as sleep deprivation rockets higher, common sense begins to be even more commonly needed than possessed than usual... And here's something I wrote a while ago:

Fourth Week Fantasy

From red to green the electronics' lights blink
Six rugged wheels and their chains smoothly clink
Victor fans whir to life
Perfect auton ends all strife
What an unattainable dream, we all think.

Unfortunately, this has never happened in the last two years that I've been here, not even at regionals. Oh well, that's what daydreams are for.

[NOV8R]

1583 Timeline. Build season – 6 weeks
We must stay on schedule
Week 1
– Brainstorming – Days 1-4
– Design Freeze – Day 5
– Established robot design
– Mobility system frozen
– General ideas for all mechanisms
– Mechanism Prototyping – Days 5-8
– Build Drive System – Days 5-14
Week 2
– Mechanism Build – Days 8-21
– Programmers Begin Coding – Day 8
– Robot Controls – Days 8-14
– Drive System Complete – Day 14
. Having the robot moving early is crucial!!
Week 3
– Begin Autonomous Testing – Day 15
Week 4– Mechanism Integration – Days 22-28
Wiring is not a quick job.
Weeks 5&6– Robot Done – Day 29
– Testing & Perfecting – Days 29-40
– Driver Training – Days 29-40
. “Practiced drivers make bad robots win, and unpracticed
drivers make good robots lose”
The Last Few Days
– Decorations
– Parts Inventory
– Photographs
– Packing The Crate

[Madison]

We're going for something of an accelerated schedule this year.

Kick Off Weekend: Strategy selected, drive train finished
End of Week 1: Design finished
End of Week 4: Finished Robot
End of Week 6: Long, well-deserved rest.

We'll see how it goes.

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

We're going for something of an accelerated schedule this year.

Kick Off Weekend: Strategy selected, drive train finished
End of Week 1: Design finished
End of Week 4: Finished Robot
End of Week 6: Long, well-deserved rest.

We'll see how it goes.

That's how we roll also.

Originally Posted by NOV8R

“Practiced drivers make bad robots win, and unpracticed
drivers make good robots lose”

Since we started pushing our robots to be done by the 5th week, our performance and ability has greatly been improved. Even a simple robot that the students are familiar with and it's abilities is so much better than a complicated, poorly operated robot.

[Jaime65]

Week one – brainstorm & create design
Week two – finish design & get matterials
Week three – build
Week four – build/test/redesign (if needed)
Week five – build/test/redesign (if needed)
Week six – build/program & ship