Drawing out Ideas

This week, we worked our designs and making them more detailed. Previously, we brainstormed our first designs (mostly just general concepts), and in our meeting, we analyzed all the possible designs and divided them up for further exploration. We did some online research to see how we could add to our robot designs, taking into consideration the characteristics that we wanted our robots to have. For example, for

An example of some of the diagrams that we drew. These mostly focused on function and features rather than specificity of design.

my chassis, I researched different types of chassis and selected a type that would best fit the characteristics I have in mind. Based on my experience, I want a robot that is more quick, because this is definitely a speed based game. In addition, last season, both of our robots had issues with getting close enough to the goals; this year, we are working on seeing how we can ensure that our robots get close enough to the goal, whether that means changing up the chassis, or perhaps creating a different type of robot altogether. For my prototype, I was supposed to create a robot with a lift, and some sort of intake or claw. Each member of the team did something a little different, with different components, so that we could see the pros and cons of each design, and then select which one we wanted to focus on. After the preliminary design, I worked on being more detailed and specific with how the parts would be built. I sketched out a more detailed version of the chassis first, with motor placement and all. Overall, we decided to spend a little more time working out details of the robot before breaking it down further into more specific diagrams before we go into Fusion.