The story of how BoxBot was designed, developed and manufactured.
Sometimes it is interesting to know how a product came to exist. Here I will give you a brief run down of how BotBuilder.co.uk products are designed, developed and manufactured.
In this case we will look at the little BoxBot robot chassis. I hope this gives you an interesting insight into the development of our robot kits.
Stage 1: Defining a concept
As with all design projects the 1st thing you need is the idea. BoxBot was created out of the need for a small compact servo driven robot that can host a micro controller board, prototyping breadboard and accessories.
This process normally requires a lot of sketches, and trying out ideas on paper. Sometimes there will be lots of sketches, other times the solution will form in only a few.
Once there is a strong idea that fulfills the brief, it is onto stage 2.
Stage 2: Creating the blueprints in CAD
CAD (Computer Aided Design) is where the design is formulated into a real world object. This process creates a 1:1 scale drawing of the product, measured down to the finest details.
Measurements of any objects we are not making such as sizes of servos, and the mounting holes are measured with digital calipers, and the measurements transferred into CAD.
The creation of the product in 2D can require a lot of thought. As the kit material has a depth to it (normally 3mm), care must be taken to allow for this when designing. Being a good logical thinker is essential as you have to make sure that all the parts fit together in 3D while drawing in 2D.
Stage 3: 2D to 3D
Once the 2D plans are created, they are exported as shapes into a 3D modelling program. As these shapes are 1:1 scale they can be extruded in real world scale in 3D. This then creates all the components virtually in true 1:1 scale. Other objects required in the kit such as breadboards, servos etc have previously been modeled in 3D and are available to use in our virtual kit.
The kit is assembled in 3D and checked for any "Gotchas" and there will almost certainly be at least one! If any errors are found that part is tweaked in the 2D plan then re-imported into 3D.
The great thing about working in 3D is that you can zoom right in to check tolerances, clearances etc... Also a real world representation of the product is generated for use in the instruction manual.
Stage 4: Physical prototype
This stage is not always required, but for complicated or production products a physical model is made to ensure everything fits in real life.
The model is made from the 2D plans in a material called Fomex. it is available is 3mm depth and is easy to cut.
Everything is assembled and checked on this model.
Once everything checks out it is onto stage 5.
Stage 5: Manufacturing
Now that everything is ready it is time to get the product ready for manufacture.
This is a bit like doing a large puzzle. Care is taken to make sure everything needed is on the cut sheet, this is then replicated to fill the entire area.
The laser we use has a bed size of 80x50cms and care is taken to fit as many components within this size to keep costs down and waste at a minimum.
Once the cutting files are layed out, it is time to burn!
The bot is cut using a C02 high power laser. This produces highly accurate parts.
Stage 6: Instructions
Creating the instruction manual for the product can be the hardest part of the entire process! Great care is taken to ensure that everyone can easily follow the directions to put the bot together.
There is a lot of work involved to show the correct orientation of parts.
As the 3D model exisits, this can be virtually assembled at each stage and images generated that are used in the manual.
The manual normally goes through a few revisions based on user group feedback.
Stage 7: Packaging
Once everything is designed and ready for retail, the penultimate stage is packaging the kits. This involves counting all the nuts, bolts, washers etc... Adding all the required parts from stock into the box and doing a quality control test.
Stage 8: Retail
The final stage! We have a product that is ready for others to enjoy.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) is where the design is formulated into a real world object. This process creates a 1:1 scale drawing of the product, measured down to the finest details.
Once the 2D plans are created, they are exported as shapes into a 3D modelling program. As these shapes are 1:1 scale they can be extruded in real world scale in 3D. This then creates all the components virtually in true 1:1 scale. Other objects required in the kit such as breadboards, servos etc have previously been modeled in 3D and are available to use in our virtual kit.
Now that everything is ready it is time to get the product ready for manufacture.
Creating the instruction manual for the product can be the hardest part of the entire process! Great care is taken to ensure that everyone can easily follow the directions to put the bot together.