Brainstorming/Design Process
The Mouse Spit robot design process has been one of the most consistent, yet paradoxically changing, aspects of the team. We utilize the relatively simple philosophy of team-driven idea generation. This is where we would throw everything at a wall, sifting through the ideas with a design matrix to determine what would work and which would be inadequate (based on a few qualities). After this, we move to prototyping to see if the ideas will work in reality, and, if not, what is needed to make it work. (We often find ourselves back at the matrix to try again.). This process is then repeated in a loop of improvement and development where we make, test, repeat…until it’s what we want, and it works.
At the beginning of the robot design process we identified the general robot mechanisms that would be needed if the game and the exact designs were decided upon. Those mechanisms were the drivetrain, grabber, and lift mechanism. Depending on the exact design choices for those individual mechanisms, more sub-mechanisms may have been needed; however, for the design we selected, they were not.
| Arm | Cost | Efficiency | Difficulty | Rating |
| Four Bar | 5 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| Scissor Lift | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6.1 |
| Cascade Slide | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Forklift | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| *On a rating of 1-10 | ||||
| Drive Train | Cost | Efficiency | Difficulty | Rating |
| Tank drive | 3 | 5 | 4 | no |
| Mecanum wheels | 3 | 8 | 4 | yes |
| Omni wheels | 3 | 6.5 | 4 | maybe |
| Swerve | 6 | 10 | 0 | no |