Robotics Resource Center (WPI)

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The Robotics Resource Center at WPI is designed to provide support to on-campus and off-campus activities and groups for projects and competitive robotics. The RRC hosts a number of robotics events each year, provides guidance and materials for student projects, and supports the Robotics Engineering major. The staff consists of Ken Stafford, Brad Miller, and Colleen Shaver.

Applying the Engineering Design Process to Competition Robots

by Robotics Resource Center (WPI)

Presentation given by John V-Neun as part of the 2009 FIRST Robotics Conference sponsored by Rolls-Royce and WPI.

TAG(S): Mechanical, Electrical, Strategies, 2009 Robotics Conference

This presentation will outline a sample engineering design process and describe its individual steps. Examples of how it can be applied to the typical competition robot build season will be provided along with descriptions of several different tools which can be utilized during this process.

Key engineering principles & lessons will be described as well as methods to demonstrate and emphasize these principles to students on a competition robotics team.

A sample timeline of the traditional 6-week FRC build season will be discussed highlighting ways to integrate the engineering design process and emphasizing milestones where key engineering principles can be demonstrated.

Some key discussions will be: “Prototyping for Success”, “Design is an Iterative Process”, “Continuous Improvement”, and “Engineering Problem Solving”.