4. Sketch or describe or CAD Idea

It's one thing to have an idea, its anther to have an idea like an engineer.

This process uses Slack, Onshape, pen & notebook, Google Docs, or Google Drawings.

Get Inspired.

So inspiration for an idea can come from anywhere. A good place to start is observing the world around you and look at how similar problems are being solved. Try and figure out the important parts of those designs and those could be a good start to an idea.

Additional resources for ideas.

Make a Sketch of the idea

    1. Using Onshape or your Engineering Notebook make a detailed to scale sketch of your idea.
    2. Show all important motions and interactions (game pieces/ game field)
      1. you may need to make several "views" of your robot; Top View, Side View, Extended view, retraced view, etc.
    3. You don't need to figure out specifics like gearboxes or bolts/mounting

Questions to ask about your idea

    1. Try and describe your idea in a sentence like this
      1. It's Like a _______ But with _______.
      2. OR It's Like a ______ But Instead of _____ it ______
      3. OR It's a _______ and a ________.
    2. Can it fit in all the design constraints we have
      1. Size
      2. Weight
      3. Other Robot Goals
      4. Materials
      5. Available Skills
    3. What Problem does it solve
    4. What Problems does it create.
    5. What design constraints does it put on the rest of the robot (if its a shooter does it need a collector to work? if its a climbing hook does it need an arm?)
    6. What is the hardest thing about the idea
    7. What "Kind of Solution" is it using? ( if its mechanical, is it a simple arm, a roller claw, a double reverse 4 bar?. if its software is it a PID, Bang Bang)

Evaluate your Idea

    1. Complexity
      1. How many motors does it use?
        1. do they need to be mechanically linked?
        2. do they need to be software linked?
      2. How many pneumatic cylinders does it use?
      3. How many sensors does it Need? Want? Nice to Have?
        1. Proxy sensors?
        2. Potentiometers?
        3. Encoders?
        4. PID controls?
        5. Camera control?
        6. Gyro?
        7. Accelerometer?
        8. IMU?
      4. how many moving parts does it have (not including gearboxes)
    2. Experience
      1. When was the last time the team built something like this?
      2. When was the last time you built this?

Present your idea

    1. Add a new section to the of the Pearce Robotics Robot Design Idea Google Doc.
    2. Fill out all the questions and insert a scans of your sketches (or picture link your Onshape) to the document
    3. Present the idea to the team using our projector

As a team evaluate the idea against the weighted matrix

    1. fill in this years weighted matrix for the idea.
    2. come to a consensus as a team for each item.
    3. Add the table to the idea's section in the Pearce Robotics Robot Design Idea google docs

Develop the best ideas

    1. Look at your preseason team skills inventory from the Understanding the Robot Game stage and determine how many ideas you can comfortably peruse (estimate 20 person hours to get an idea to the bare prototype stage)
    2. Once you have several ideas weighted rank them and presue the top ideas (KEEP ALL THE IDEAS NOT USED)
      1. You may reweigh items if you have a limit to skills and experiences available.