How to design and build a combat robot

Step 9 Testing and tweeking

Now that you have your robot mostly put together and wired you have reached the really fun part. TESTING.

When doing this make sure you are properly protected and safe depending on the size of your robot and the weapons your robot may be lethal if not controlled properly.

I like to test the subsystems separately before I test the bot all together. That way I can analyze problems to each component before having to backtrack the entire machine to find problems.

Once your robot is complete make sure to drive your robot, getting a feel for the controls, many matches have been won or lost just because of driving skill. The more you test before your competition the better prepared you will be. I try to break my robots before the event as I would rather figure out mistakes and fix problems when I have time to fix them rather than the time in between the match.

Another advantage to running your machine is "break in period" Every new gearbox or mechanical component will have to wear in a bit and will loosen up. You want to try and get everything broken in before your first competition so you are not dealing with changing robot conditions throughout the day.

Ultimately It is important to remember that Design is an iterative process. You will never get it right the first time but with testing and modifications you can make it work.