Robot CAD Model
Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog! In this post I will present to you the process and final design of creating my robot using Solidworks CAD software. At first this seemed like a difficult task considering I didn’t have the physical robot in my possession however with the seemingly unlimited resources of the internet I managed to obtain some very comprehensive dimensions of nearly every component of the model. After this I proceeded to create a freehand sketch with all known dimensions.
Some of the components above are measured by the extremely precise method of guesstimating, therefore I will be updating all the inaccurate dimensions as soon as the robot arrives in my possession. Next I decided that the best way to model this robot is to firstly split each component into its respective sub-assembly. Therefore I created folders of the Arduino, Body Plate, Motor and Wheel sub-assemblies.
Each component first began as a sketch of a simple shape on a plane. This sketch was then extruded a certain distance in order to form a 3D object. Features such as extruded/revolved cuts, swept/revolved bosses and fillets were then used to finalise the shape of the object at hand. However the most useful feature that I personally used was the linear/circular pattern. This feature copies a shape that is already made and pastes a pattern of that same shape in any order and quantity of choice. This was especially useful during the design of the wheel to make the spokes.
It is important to mention that until I get a hold of the physical robot some sizes may change, however that is not a problem as changing sketch dimensions in Solidworks can be done with ease as the program automatically updates features to fit. When all the sub-assemblies were completed it was time for arguably the BEST part of using Solidworks, namely rendering. Below you can see a few renders of some of the components before the final assembly.
The program I used for rendering these images is Solidworks Visualize, I have to give credit to Masters engineering students for giving me this tip as they showed me this while we were working on projects together in Formula Trinity. This program is much more advanced than the more popular Photview 360 and has more customisable camera angles, material appearances and scenes. Finally it was time for the assembly of the whole robot. To do this I inserted each component one by one and mated them to the correct surface, edge or distance. After the whole model was assembled I once again clicked that satisfying render button and just take a look at these!
The first draft of the CAD model doesn’t stray too far from the real life pictures on the internet. However I know that once I update the real measurements some proportions may change. Ultimately I think that we need a name for our new robot so please give any suggestions down below in the comments and follow this page for new and upcoming updates to this stage of the project!
Update regarding the second and final draft of the CAD model
Hi guys! I have constantly been trying to gather all the accurate dimensions that I need to complete this CAD model when an absolute saint appeared in the form of a peer from my class. She shared her measurements with me as she has already received her robot in the post. This great news speeds my process up quite significantly and means that I can build a very comprehensive Solidworks drawing on the second draft. However I must admit that my previous confidence was completely shattered as some of my “guesstimates” were horribly wrong.
Namely some major changes included the body plates which I had to increase the width of from 60mm to 83mm and the battery which had to be halved in height but doubled in width. But first prize for the biggest blunder of this project surely has to go to the fact that I predicted using an Arduino Uno microcontroller, when in reality this project will use an Arduino Nano. So please just erase that pretty render of an Uno you saw above and take a look at the updated Nano below.
Another major characteristic that brings this model to life is the wires in my opinion. At the thought of modelling wires our brain automatically jumps to spending extra hours on Solidworks, it turns out the process is really quite simple. Firstly one would need to sketch the desired diameter of the wire on the starting surface. After that Solidworks offers a feature called “3D sketch” where the user can sketch a line with reference to the XY, YZ and XZ planes. When the first two steps are completed you can use the Swept Boss feature to extrude the shape of the wire. After the whole assembly was finally dimensioned correctly it was time to show off a few renders, so get ready for these!
Now that the second draft of the CAD model of the robot is finished the next step is to assemble it in real life which sounds a lot more exciting than sitting at the computer for hours (as if we don’t already spend enough time staring at the computer with online lectures). Keep tuned to see this model transform into a real life robot!
