Mechanical
Understand drivetrains, gear ratios, linear slides, arms and intakes — then build them so they survive a season.
What you will be able to do
Choose and size a drivetrain, calculate gear ratios for speed or torque, size a lift or arm with real motor data, and build mechanisms that survive a full competition day.
Mechanical design is mostly a handful of ideas applied over and over: torque versus speed, friction, rigidity, and tolerance. Learn them once with the interactive calculators in this track and you can design anything the season throws at you.
The units go in the order you would build a robot: first principles, then the drivetrain, then the mechanisms that score, then the habits that keep it all bolted together. Work through them in order the first time; after that, treat them as reference.
Robot rules — size limits, motor counts, allowed parts — change every season. Where a lesson touches a rule, check it against the current season's Competition Manual — each lesson links to it.
Course guide
How this track works
Each lesson explains one idea, works it through with real numbers from REV and goBILDA parts, and ends with a quick check. Most lessons link a calculator — the gear ratio, belt and drivetrain tools — so try your own robot's numbers as you go. Every lesson ends with its sources, mostly Game Manual 0 and the vendors' own documentation, so you can go deeper.
Before you start
- No building experience — the first unit starts from what a gear ratio is
- Comfort with multiplying, dividing and π; a calculator helps
- Ideally, access to a REV or goBILDA kit to look at while you read
The route
- 01Mechanical first principlesThe handful of ideas every FTC mechanism is built from.3 lessons48 min
- 02DrivetrainsChoose a drivetrain, gear it for a speed your drivers can control, and build it so it drives straight.3 lessons47 min
- 03Scoring mechanismsIntakes and claws to pick game elements up, and slides and arms to put them where they score.3 lessons53 min
- 04Building to lastFasteners that stay tight, threadlocker used safely, and the REV and goBILDA build systems most FTC robots are made from.2 lessons29 min
Course contents
Mechanical concepts: gears· goBILDA on what gears actually do to torque and speed.Watch on YouTube