What I have just learned

To some of you, this is going to be "old Hat" stuff.  But, with what I have had to do for the past two weeks - I think this needs to be posted for everyone to read.  This is for everyone!!  For those of you just beginning to plan your robot project - all the way to the other end - You have finished your project.  What I'm I talking about - DOCUMENTATION !!!!

I don't need to bore you with details, but I wasted about 12 hours researching part of my project that I didn't need to.  All because my documentation was not complete.  I thought that I had done a pretty good job on documenting how I build B9Greg back in 1999 - 2001.  I was wrong.

It all started two weeks ago when I started pulling up the data and documentation that I had written back then and found that I didn't understand what I was trying to say to myself.  The problem - short hand notes.  Sure, it made prefect sense back when I wrote the stuff - but a few years later and the notes that made perfect sense became - "What?"

The lesson that I have learned is that you have to fully write down everything.  Don't short cut your notes - everything needs to be fully explained - so that when you return to this part of your robot.  For whatever purpose such as an upgrade like I am doing - to a required repair action on your part - you will understand how things work.  This will be a great time saver in the end.

This is the part of the club that makes it as good as it is - sharing our knowledge and mistakes so that others can learn from them.

 

Return to Building the Robot

Return to the Home Page