I have just acuired a Apple laptop and am in need of a good program that will allow me to cad the robot or program the robot its self. I am wondering if any of you know of a version of the programs that will run on macs.
for cad on a mac your options are pretty limited… i tend to use sketchup for simple stuff (sketchup.google.com), but for the more complex stuff i switch over to the pc for solidworks (i suppose you could use inventor)
if you’re willing to taint your mac with xp or vista, you could run solidworks/inventor/mplab/etc no problem
(you should be able to use Eclipse (eclipse.org) or Xcode (ships with your mac, probably on one of the extra install discs) to write the C code, although I have no idea if IFI loader will run on OS X)
i am running a macbook and doing autodesk inventor.
if you have a intel based mac then you can buy VMware and run windows on the background. If not you can se the free program bootcamp and install a partition of Windows.
There’s QCAD, which is okay, but lacks some of the capabilities of software like AutoCAD. It’s 2D only, but it’s better than nothing.
http://www.qcad.org/qcad.html
There’s also “TurboCAD”, which I’ve never used, so I can give no review of.
http://www.cadandgraphics.com/tcmac3dv3.html?gclid=CK-317_O1JECFQ-QGgodH1Mpaw
Alternatively, you can use computer animation softwares, such as Lightwave, instead of actual CAD software to create 3D models of your robot. 116 has used Lightwave in the past for creating their plans for their drive systems and frames.
well there is your first problem…
just kidding…
inventor should work, we are using it on my team…
I have a Mac too, and I read up on inventor and it doesn’t work with OSX.
like i said…
having a mac is your first problem
Stay away from that. It’s counter-productive of a production worthy CAD software.
It’s like using MS Paint for CAD. 
Sure it will get the job done, but everyone will laugh at you in industry for using it, and it won’t be compatible with anyone/anything.
Ashlar-Vellum has a suite of Mac-native CAD applications that are very good. Good enough for SpaceShipOne, anyway.
I’ve used their Graphite 3D wireframe and its predecessors on Macs for eons. Ashlar was a pioneer in parametric modeling and design, but never was able to match Autodesk’s marketing clout.
That said, I think Inventor is a better solution if you have the machine to run it. You didn’t say what model laptop you got - if it’s Intel, it should run some version of Inventor, though just like with a PC, you need a top spec machine to run the latest version well.