Official Autodesk walkthrough

Use Design → Solid → Assemble → As-Built Joint. Select two existing components. For wheels, choose Revolute, identify the hub center and orient the rotation axis down the axle. For fixed mounts, choose Rigid.

Use Preview Motion before accepting and Animate Joint from the Joints folder for verification. For joints with physical stops, also use Edit Motion Limits to define allowable minimum and maximum positions.

Joint types and motion

Rigid: zero movement between parts. Revolute: rotation about one chosen axis. A rigid motor housing can support a revolute wheel without becoming a moving body itself.

Do not substitute Move, Align, standard Joint or a rigid group for the required As-Built Joint demonstrations.

Stage A — Frame and payload

1. Ground Base Body. This is the stationary reference. Right-click its top-level occurrence and choose Ground. Never ground a wheel, leg or arm.
2. Payload Box → Base Body: Create a Rigid As-Built Joint at the frame where the gray electronics box is mounted. Test: selecting and dragging the box must not move it separately from the chassis.
3. ELECTRIC BOX DHAKNA → Payload Box: Create a Rigid As-Built Joint for the gray box cover. Test: the lid cannot move relative to the box.

Stage B — Suspension and leg shafts

4. Leg Shaft → Base Body: Use a Revolute As-Built Joint at the blue upright suspension pivot. Put the origin at the center of the cylindrical shaft; align the revolute axis along the shaft, not across the leg.
5. Rear Legs → their matching Leg Shaft: Create a Rigid As-Built Joint at the shaft-to-leg attachment. The leg and shaft form one rotating support; the shaft pivots relative to the chassis.
6. Rear Legs 2 → their matching Leg Shaft: Repeat the Rigid As-Built Joint for the second rear-leg structure. Use the occurrence that occupies the same side and pivot as the leg being constrained.
7. Motion limit on each leg-to-chassis Revolute: Set a minimum and maximum that keep the blue leg links from passing through the chassis or adjacent rods. Follow the limit-measurement procedure below; record the two resulting angles.

Selection rule: for repeated leg and shaft occurrences, first hide and show the specific part in the Browser. Join the components at the same physical pivot, never arbitrary identically named occurrences.

Stage C — All six drive wheels and motors

Label the wheels by their positions: left-front (LF), left-middle (LM), left-rear (LR), right-front (RF), right-middle (RM), right-rear (RR). Treat the gripper end as the rover's front.

Test each wheel separately: Drive/Animate its revolute joint one complete revolution. The wheel must spin without wobbling, separating from its shaft or moving the red motor housing. Do not add angular limits to these six continuously rotating wheel joints.

Stage D — Rover arm and wrist

1. Arm Base → front chassis support (Base Body): Create a Revolute As-Built Joint centered on the arm's mounting pivot. This controls the first arm rotation.
2. Arm → Arm Base: Create a Revolute As-Built Joint at the shoulder hinge joining the two arm sections. Rotate about the pin/cylinder axis, not the arm's long dimension.
3. Gripper Wrist → Arm: Create a Revolute As-Built Joint at the cylindrical wrist connection. The end effector should turn without separating from the arm.
4. Limits: Set and test min/max motion limits for the base pivot, shoulder and wrist. Do not permit the arm to rotate into the chassis or the gripper assembly to pass through a neighboring part.

Some of these named parts are nested within imported subassemblies. Make the joints between the matching physical components, not between the overall assembly folder and a small part.

Stage E — Gripper and servo: required

1. Gripper Motor Cup → Gripper Wrist: Make a Rigid As-Built Joint between the mounting cup and the wrist.
2. Servo MG966R_Predeterminado → Gripper Motor Cup: Make a Rigid As-Built Joint between the servo housing and its cup. The servo case must not rotate or fall out during wrist motion.
3. holder → gripper Base: Make a Rigid As-Built Joint that holds the servo's fixed bracket to the stationary gripper base.
4. Gripper Base → Gripper Wrist: Make a Rigid As-Built Joint so the gripper's fixed structure follows the wrist.
5. GripperMechanism → gripper Base: Make a Revolute As-Built Joint at the mechanism hinge or servo output pivot. This is the movable grasping mechanism, not the stationary servo housing.
6. gripper → GripperMechanism: Make a Rigid As-Built Joint so the gripper geometry follows the moving mechanism. Treat the supplied gripper as one tool component; this activity does not require remodeling it into independently actuated fingers.
7. Set gripper motion limits: Adjust the mechanism's minimum and maximum until the moving gripper stops at the closed and open positions without passing through its fixed base.

Required final tests

1. Frame: the grounded Base Body, electronics box and cover remain fixed.
2. Suspension: each leg pivot moves within its defined range and stops before interference.
3. Wheels: LF, LM, LR, RF, RM and RR each make one full revolution about their own hub.
4. Arm: base, shoulder and wrist rotate about their intended axes and stop at both limits.
5. Gripper: servo and mounting parts remain rigid while GripperMechanism moves within its opening/closing limits.
6. Whole model: use Animate Joint Relationships to confirm that moving one joint does not pull apart or move unrelated components.

Do not submit an assembly that only looks correctly positioned. A screenshot alone does not prove that components are connected or that the motion is constrained.

One required procedure for every bounded revolute joint

1. Finish the joint. Right-click it in the Joints folder and select Drive Joints. Return the model to its supplied starting orientation (home position).
2. Beginning at the home angle, move in 5° steps in the positive direction. At each step visually inspect the moving part and use Inspect → Interference on the relevant neighboring parts when clearance is uncertain.
3. At the first position that passes through another solid or violates a physical stop, return to the previous clear 5° increment. Record that as your Maximum.
4. Return home. Repeat in −5° steps to find the Minimum. The home orientation is 0° unless you deliberately changed its joint reference.
5. Right-click the joint → Edit Motion Limits; enable Minimum and Maximum, and enter the two measured angles. If no collision is reached in the tested range, stop the investigation at ±45° for the arm joints and ±30° for suspension joints and use those values as classroom planning caps, not as measured mechanical stops.
6. Use Drive Joints and Animate Joint Relationships to test the minimum, home and maximum settings; record all three. If any component collides at a limit, reduce that limit by another 5° and repeat.

Joint limit records (required)

For each limited joint, record: name, Minimum, Maximum, and one sentence explaining which physical obstruction would prevent further travel.

Critical distinction: ±30° and ±45° are maximum search envelopes for this lesson, not verified joint capabilities of the uploaded rover. Real collisions or stops always take priority; students must stop earlier if needed.