Welcome to the design subteam!

Here is a rundown of the basics- What goes on in the design room?

This is an overview of a variety of mechanical devices commonly used on robots.

Understanding these basic mechanisms will help you raise the level of your concept models into practical mechanisms for the robot that move and work like they should.

Before robot mechanisms can go through the nitty gritty stages of design where all the final details get decided, they must first be communicated as basic concepts.

These quick-and-dirty models help us communicate basic ideas to each other, prove that ideas can physically work, and solve some rudimentary yet crucial geometry problems that help us decide if an idea is worth developing or not.

What do common FRC robot mechanisms look like?

This lesson will help you understand some basic terminology used in FRC robot design with some helpful examples of a variety of mechanisms.

Strategic design explores the strategy and considerations that play into mechanism selection and overall robot configuration.

What size gears, sprockets, and pulleys are available?

What sizes of aluminum tube stock can we get?

Which suppliers carry our chosen brand of drive motor?

Understanding the parts and products we can purchase significantly impacts the parts and mechanisms we will design. Staying up to date on new products and what is available on the market will also help us keep our designs current.

There is a point in every design where crucial specs and dimensions (length of a lever arm, number of gear teeth, etc.) must be determined. 

Understanding how to do the math for a given design will help you make sound, informed decisions about critical dimensions and ensure that mechanisms work right the first time without needing multiple iterations to get the physics right.

Mechanical drawings are how designs get communicated to the manufacturing team. This is a language that manufacturers must know how to read, and designers must know how to speak.

After each part is finished in design, a technical drawing must be made, including the correct views, dimensions, and info needed to manufacture the part. There are a lot of wrong ways to do this that lead to delays, frustration, and malfunctioning parts, but there are only a few ways to do it right.

What are our manufacturing capabilities? 

Most parts can be designed in more than one way. Understanding the capabilities and limitations of our manufacturing facility will help you design parts that we can make efficiently. 

Learning how part geometry affects the manufacturing process will also help you communicate better with the manufacturing team.