Xuexuan Peng – December 11, 2021
Note this tutorial is a special topic for the general prototyping tutorial. This tutorial uses the example from the Rova robot.
1. Conclude what components are needed and have an understanding of the relationships between the components (To decide the distance between them)
2. Sketch the chassis structure on a paper, and decide what shape of chassis you need
3. Decide on how many layers you need to accommodate all the components
# Note there is a tradeoff between the height and the width of the robot: if the robot is too high (Many layers), it will have a high center of gravity, and it is easy to fall off when it turns. However, if it is too wide, it is not flexible to pass through narrow gap (Such as a narrow tunnel).
4. Start with the most complex layer, and design the 3D structure in a CAD software
# Note an easy way for redesigning the chassis is to download the components online and design the fixtures according to the size of these components in a CAD software (I spent a lot of time at the start to measure the physical structure and redesign the chassis and that wasted a lot of time. There are usually many errors in the results measured by hand. This method is much more efficient)
5. Design the other simpler layers based on the complex layer
