Each fall we go through our parts, and end up throwing out a lot of perfectly good 3D printed parts that could be used on future robots - spacers, shaft collars, etc. What is worse, is that each year as soon as the game is release, we print these exact same parts.
A second, but related issues, is that teams are incentivized to buy COTS parts and systems rather than develop their own. This is because COTS parts can be reused year to year, while custom parts, even if they do the same job, have to be built from scratch each year - a waste of materials and funds. Last year, despite several of our students wanting to design a climber, the team opted to buy a COTS climber system so that we could reuse it in the future (as an economic investment). As a community, we should be finding ways to reduce waste and encourage creative design. Below are 2 proposal to help with that effort:
- Any 3D printed part, whose CAD is public before the season, can be reused.
3D printers are ubiquitous at this point, and every team can print any component whose CAD is public. While there are some more advanced 3D printers out there, the vast majority of 3D printed parts can be made by any team at this point. The proposal could be limited to standard FDM printers.
- Any part(s) with public CAD which a team designs and fabricates that are a direct replacement for a COTS item can be reused.
The proliferation of COTās sub-systems, which are allowed to be re-used, have disincentivised teams to develop their own systems because they can only be used for one season. It would be great if there was more incentive for teams to design their own systems rather than purchase them.
I know the limitation on re-using parts is meant to level the playing field, but in reality it seems that these restrictions are more advantageous to high resource teams which have the skills, time, and funds to get around them. Teams with the ability to do so build almost completely custom robots every year, so these restrictions do little to hinder them. On the other hand, low resource teams end up using their limited 3D printing capabilities to print the same parts year after year, and only spend resources on items that have future as well as present value, rather than developing their own technology in house.
I am curious what otherās think, and any modifications to the proposals are welcome.
- Yes
- No
- Yes, but only they are made on a standard FDM plastic printer
0 voters
- Yes
- No
0 voters