Design
An FTC design handbook, from your first CAD sketch to mechanisms, manufacturing, and a complete assembly.
Learn to design parts and for an , even if you have never opened . CAD, short for computer-aided design, lets you make accurate models, check how parts fit, and prepare the files used to make them.
Start with measurement, simple sketches, and a plate . Later chapters cover moving joints, gears and belts, arms, lifts, , wiring, and making parts. You can read them in order or look up the job your team is working on.
Keep notes as you design. Write down why you chose a , what you measured, and what changed after a test. A teammate should be able to understand why you made the part that way.
Start here
If you have never used CAD, work through these five guides in order. You will make one mounting plate, add named dimensions, and assemble two copies with two spacers. Keep the same document throughout.
- Onshape: accounts, documents, units, and finding your way around.
- Sketches: dimensions and constraints that keep a design predictable.
- Parts and variables: turn a into a part you can change.
- Assemblies: build a plate-and-spacer assembly and check its dimensions.
- Drawings and exports: make a drawing, export the plate, and list the assembly’s parts.
Look up unfamiliar words in the Design glossary. For help starting an FTC team, use the Starter Guide.
Before you design
You can practice CAD before you have a robot kit. For a real mechanism, begin with the task and the hardware you will use.
| Chapter | What you will learn |
|---|---|
| Plan your mechanism | Describe the task, compare concepts, and choose a useful |
| Measuring parts | Read drawings, find hole centers, and measure where parts attach |
| Forces and motion | Estimate , speed, loads, and the effect of a |
The examples use millimeters for CAD and meters where the physics equations require them. They identify their practice dimensions; replace those with the selected hardware and current game requirements when designing your robot.
Learn more Onshape
After the first plate, make a bracket, a moving hinge, and a family of spacers. These exercises introduce tools you will use repeatedly on the robot.
| Chapter | What you will make or check |
|---|---|
| More sketch tools | An adjustment slot and a rounded link |
| Modeling features | An L-bracket, repeated cuts, and a revolved spacer |
| Curved and hollow parts | A funnel using offset , Loft, and Shell |
| Moving assemblies | A hinge with a defined axis, offset, and travel limits |
| Hardware and imports | Add purchased parts and make simple models to reserve space |
| Configurations | Three spacer lengths controlled by one model |
| Custom features | Add tools and choose when to update them |
Stay with the standard tools until the operation makes sense. A custom feature can save drawing work, but you still need to understand the part it creates.
Plan a robot
Once you can make and assemble simple parts, work out how the whole robot fits together.
| Chapter | What you will work out |
|---|---|
| Layout sketches | Wheel positions, mechanism locations, and the game-piece path |
| Robot packaging | Motion , wiring, battery changes, and repair access |
| Custom drivetrains | Axles, , transmissions, and side plates |
| Motor mounts | Mounting patterns, screw depth, adjustment, and replacement access |
| Shaft supports | Bearing positions, , spacing, and |
| Transmission layouts | Gear, belt, and chain geometry in three dimensions |
| Mechanism design | Get a game piece from the intake into a claw without dropping it |
| Arms and linkages | Four-bar geometry and leverage through the motion |
| Slides and lifts | , , moving masses, and cable routes |
| Intake and transfer layouts | Guide game pieces from pickup to the next mechanism |
| Shooter layouts | Arrange the wheel, guide, and feeder, and check where the ball leaves |
| Electronics mounting | Make a mount with room for plugs, wiring, and repairs |
Start with simple shapes. A rectangle reserving room for the battery is useful long before you model its latch. Add detail when it answers a fit, motion, , or manufacturing question.
Make parts
A finished model needs more than an attractive view. Someone must be able to buy its hardware, make its custom parts, and put it together.
| Chapter | What you will decide or prepare |
|---|---|
| Fastened joints | Screw lengths, clamp paths, pivots, nuts, and inserts |
| Tolerances and fit | Clearance, variation, and accumulated dimensional error |
| Design for manufacturing | Processes, material around loads, and useful cutouts |
| Printed parts | Print orientation, walls, supports, hardware, and small fit tests |
| Sheet and machined parts | Stock, bends, cutter access, corners, and secondary operations |
| Drawings and exports | Views, dimensions, geometry files, and a parts list |
Review and practice
Use CAD teamwork to share references and keep files matched to the robot. Before making a batch, run a Design review with the builders and programmers. Use CAD troubleshooting when a sketch, feature, , or export stops behaving correctly.
The Practice project brings the lessons together in a belt-driven bench roller module. Make the layout, parts, moving assembly, drawing, and , then ask another student to review it.
The CAD examples look at designs by Pretty Smart Robotics 16441, Hyperion 9614, and Seattle Solvers 23511. You can open their credited images at full size. Look at why each team made those choices, then consider what would work on your robot.
The Engineering handbook covers the mechanics behind these designs, including , gears, materials, wiring, and testing. Use both sections together: CAD can show that parts fit, while a physical test tells you whether the mechanism works.