What do your teams do for storing the components and assemblies of past robots for future use and improvements?
Our Team 6484 is a small team (only 10 members!) from NE New York, and we are looking to take some useful assemblies from our 2018 and 2019 robots and keep them around for future years, since we just don’t have the funds to build a new robot from the ground up every year (nobody really does, we think). We hope that reusing successful parts like our scissor lift and elevator lift will save us valuable time and money in the future, but we don’t have a real way to store them safely besides keeping them in the back room we share with the rest of the school ag department.
Any suggestions for how your teams store assemblies you plan on reusing/improving?
RJ, Project Manager 6484
Outside of the whole storage issue, make sure anything that is used on the actual robot complies with rules surrounding pre-made non-cots parts and assemblies. Many of these old mechanisms can be great for testing new ideas, but if it was custom made or heavily modified from a cots state (see new rules in this area for the season) you cannot reuse it for competition.
First, please make sure you are compliant with the rules on work done before Kickoff. For prototyping though, I totally understand the urge to reuse.
It definitely depends on what kinds of things you’re storing, and without seeing them it’s tough to call. It may be time to subject it to the Lowe’s Test: how would a comparable piece be stored at a home improvement store, like a Lowe’s or Home Depot? Racks for long stock, shelves for squatter elements, etc etc etc.
We don’t reuse assemblies that we built. We do sometimes reuse parts, if they are still in original condition, etc. The mechanisms get taken apart and the metal goes in the scrap bin, and the hardware goes in the hardware bin. Useful parts go in the parts bins. (none of this is organized as well as it should be)
In the olden days, we were able to keep old robots together and working, but changes in the KOP, rules, team storage situation, coaches, etc has made that ability go away.
This is just false, a good majority of teams build robots from scratch every year, and some even build 2 or 3 robots from scratch every year. With the amount of wear and tear that robots get each year, reusing mechanisms is simply not viable (not to mention, unless it’s a COTS part, highly illegal)
Don’t use a scissor lift on your future robots. Scissor lifts are almost always much more complex, more prone to breaking, and heavier than other possible solutions
Don’t reuse a whole subsystem from a previous robot. You really can’t because of the rules, and even if you could you shouldn’t because 1) a full season of matches is going to do some wear and tear and 2) “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail”; if you have a complex pre-built solution and an aversion to trying something new, it may result in a significantly worse result than if you took the time to develop more suitable mechanism.
If you are concerned about having enough resources to build a full new robot for each season, I recommend you step up your fundraising/sponsor recruitment efforts or consider switching to FTC/VRC.
As others have stated, it may be illegal for you to re-use mechanisms in future years.
You will also find that even if you “want a mechanism like the one from year X”, you will need it to be different enough that you are better off designing and building a new one that is optimized for that game.
Lastly, if you have limited resources, and most likely limited experience, you should study one of the “Effective FIRST Strategies” videos by Karthik. No low resource team can afford to break the two Golden Rules he discusses.
I’m sure you mean to reference for future years We have to do the same do to funding its not feasible to build prototypes etc. of scissor lifts and elevators from year to year we also keep around unique manipulators and shooters as well. We are very limited on shop space but we did allocate one 8 foot wide by 2 foot deep by 2 foot tall shelf that we have nicknamed the wall of shame. We store assemblies on it to reference from. we usually cycle them every few years though or keep components that were very unique to our team that may not have many other references among FRC teams. I wouldn’t recommend using them again both for legality and also missing a great opportunity to make an old design better but for rapid prototyping and proof of concept it is great to keep these things around even if it is only to reminisce about years past. Many teams use CAD libraries to keep these assemblies in a digital form so once your team can start doing this the more space you can save.
Thanks for reminding me to scrape off the inspection sticker of our old robot before reusing it.
Anyway a lot depends on the amount of space you have. I find it useful to keep old mechanisms around for inspiration. We are currently blessed with a lot of space.
We have to do the same do to funding its not feasible to build prototypes etc. of scissor lifts and elevators from year to year we also keep around unique manipulators and shooters as well. We are very limited on shop space but we did allocate one 8 foot wide by 2 foot deep by 2 foot tall shelf that we have nicknamed the wall of shame. We store assemblies on it to reference from. we usually cycle them every few years though or keep components that were very unique to our team that may not have many other references among FRC teams. I wouldn’t recommend using them again both for legality and also missing a great opportunity to make an old design better but for rapid prototyping and proof of concept it is great to keep these things around even if it is only to reminisce about years past. Many teams use CAD libraries to keep these assemblies in a digital form so once your team can start doing this the more space you can save.