Team Mad Cow’s Morpheus is another CAD to fab bot.
Finger Tech Robotics also uses cardboard
modeling on Swiss Chef.
Team Kick Me applies Cardboard Aided Design techniques on Kick-Me-Mo.
Team V, in the April ‘07 issue of SERVO, showed their progression from paper to wood to metal.
So, when it came time for
a beetleweight version of Babe, I
went straight from BVD to layout
without bothering to even make a
PowerPoint version.
To see what else is being done
around the builder community, I
put out a call and received lots
of examples.
No one technique works for any
builder. Whether you are a high-end
CAD designer or a low-tech posterboard and masking tape type, what’s
important is to spend the right
balance of time between design,
modeling, and building. Too much of
any one wastes precious time.
A final closing thought. The
hardest step is between the “virtual”
bots in our heads and the “hard” bots
in the box. However it works best for
you, get out there and build! SV
SOFTWARE REVIEW — ExpressSCH v5.6
● by Jay Johnson
This free and easy-to-use program is
perfect for whipping up a quick
electrical schematic. Whether you are
designing wiring for your own scratch-built robot or hacking an off-the-shelf
electronic gizmo, this is a painless way
to produce an as-built diagram before
you start modifying or to completely
plan your next cunning device.
I’ve found it very useful to create
as-built diagrams of as much of my
bot’s wiring as possible and keep a
copy with my toolkit when traveling
to an event. Repairing damage or
making modifications in a hurry is
definitely easier when you have an
as-built to refer to. This simple idea
can prevent a wiring mistake that
might “toast” your robot!
I downloaded the setup
program from the ExpressPCB website, installed it on my PC, and built
my first simple circuit schematic in
less than 15 minutes (Figure 1). The
setup program actually installs two
applications: ExpressSCH for creat-
FIGURE 1
32 SERVO 09.2007
