A new challenge for First Robotics just launched.
It looks like you need to pick up cones & cubes, place them in bins (with complex scoring), and balance on a seesaw.
Some advice, shooting from the hip:
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It looks like you'll need an arm, which is a lot of fun. You probably only need 4 degrees of freedom.
1. Rotating base (maybe the robot itself)
2. Elevate
3. Elbow
4. End effector for both cubes and cones
Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems like enough.
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The position of the robot on the seesaw will govern balance. But the arm position will too.
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Organizationally consider what it takes for a large team to work together. You need abstraction!
Design, fabrication, assembly electronics, programming, etc
And within each...
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Abstract the designs, and agree on an interface.
- end effector
- arm
- mobility base
- sensor positioning
- compute, power, etc
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Many First teams are new to project management. Consider the most basic standards:
- A list of tasks
- Refined enough to estimate time
- Who is responsible
For onboarding:
- Write out your designs for critique and documentation
- List learning resources