sey Jones" by the Grateful Dead in my head. So I started thinking about trains...and the way old trains were driven by those linking arms on the wheels...I realized how powerful and compact that system was...the grabbers needed to be powerful and compact...WHAMMO! we had our grabber design. And teachers always say pay attention during class.These are just ideas, do not feel limited to these techniques. Say, you find eating cheese is particularly inspiring to you, by all means, do that. You probably shouldn't tell too many people about that, though.• 3. Component DesignAfter the chassis has been designed, and the major components roughed in, it is time to break into teams, with one group per major component. The teams serve to concentrate the efforts of the collective team, focusing each group on every detail of their respective component. The groups will become self-evident after an overall design is decided on, and you will choose in which group you want to participate. After the groups are formed, each is responsible for creating a final design of their component, with every detail planned (including parts, motors, electronics, abilities, limitations, etc.). Then comes the fun part.• 4. ConstructionThis is the good part, the heart of the project. Every group is now responsible for the construction of their component. Depending of the design, this will require hours in the machine shop, more hours in Mr. Van's room trying to get everything together, and countless more troubleshooting the stupid thing (all in good fun, of course). Once all of the parts are assembled, it is time to bring everything together.• 5. Final AssemblyThis is when all of the individual components come together and the robot is actually completed. If everything goes smoothly the components will all fit together perfectly, everything will work as planned, and the robot will be complete. Of course, that's probably not going to happen, so this is th...
