My New Robot Design

[Alfa_Zulu]

Hey,

Just thought i'd let you know about my new robot that I'm starting to make

Primarily it will be a prototyping platform which i can easily add or remove different components to experiment with different sensors and programming. so far i have bought 2 pre mondified servos for the wheels $14 each (thats pretty cheap for where i live lol) and wheels for them, I'm also waiting on my Atmega328p to arrive in the mail then i can begin making the PCB for it.

I really want it to look quite professional so I'm planning on getting the chassis laser cut out of acrylic since there are about 4 companys which do this sort of thing close by, I have made a basic plan for the chassis in autocad and the image is below for you to have a look.

Please ask me any questions about this project and give feedback on what you think about my chassis plan, Thanks  

[Selenaut-14]

Sweet. Just wondering: what's it going to cost you to get a laser-cut acrylic custom frame?

[Alfa_Zulu]

thats the part im wondering lol, i'm going to try and get a quote this afternoon.
if it turns out to be too expensive i might just cut it out myself at the college workshop lol

[hjohn]

Designing a robot requires balance between size (mostly weight), motor power and battery power. These three elements are connected with each other (more battery power increases the weight of the robot and requires stronger motors) and finding the "perfect" balance requires a lot of tweaking and experimenting. Try to describe heavy components in output/mass (e.g. motors: torque/Kg; batteries: mAh/Kg) and pick the one that gives the highest value.
Using light materials brings down the weight significantly (aluminum instead of steel). Building a frame out of light metal and using plastic plates as surfaces would be a lot lighter than using metal plates. For small robots acrylic plastic is a good material to use and it is easy to work with.