Tag: CNC machines

Deep in the heart of Texas, high school students are building robots and learning a lot about engineering, thanks in part to a good-natured mentor named Tim Ousley and DraftSight, a free professional-grade 2D CAD product.

A senior engineer who works in software development for National Instruments, Ousley spends a considerable amount of his spare time helping students in the Austin, Texas area prepare for BEST and FRC high school robotics competitions.

Probably the best-known robotic competition is the DARPA Grand Challenge: Driverless cars are required to travel through a series of checkpoints as quickly as possible – through, for example, the Mojave Desert. While the high school competitions require less demanding tasks and smaller and less sophisticated machines, the competition is no less intense. Read More