# Introduction to Solidworks Welcome to Solidworks! Solidworks is a powerful CAD program that we will use to make our first combat robot. This and the following pages assume you have a machine with Solidworks on it, ready to open. If you haven't installed Solidworks yet, go to the [Installing Solidworks](/cad/installing-solidworks.md) page. ### Concepts: * Parts - The basic building blocks of your robot * Assemblies - Contain parts or even other 'subassemblies' * Sketches - 2D drawings that define aspects of a 3D model * Features - Using one or more sketches to create 3D geometry ## Opening Solidworks When you first open Solidworks, you'll see a page similar to this one:

If your home screen doesn't look exactly the same as mine, that's ok. Let's jump into making our first part. ## Solidworks Tutorials Solidworks has built in tutorials that make learning the basics very easy. **TRUST ME THESE ARE WORTH YOUR TIME.** You can find them by clicking the "Learn" tab:

Then click "Step-by-Step Tutorials":

Solidworks will automatically change your view to look like this:

Solidworks in split screen view with tutorials

Ignore the first two that are listed there. We're interested in "Lesson 1: Parts" and "Lesson 2: Assemblies". Click them and they'll guide you through the creation of your first two parts and putting them in an assembly. If you want a video to help you with the first tutorial, you can check out this one by GoEngineer: even though it's a little dry, it'll help you follow the tutorial step by step and give some tips along the way. **With the knowledge you gain in these 2 tutorials, we can start designing our first robot!** (If you want to continue the built in Solidworks tutorial, which is completely optional, I recommend you go to the 'Basic Techniques' tab and go through from 'Fillets' to 'Surfaces' tutorials in order.) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://plants.cometrobotics.org/cad/introduction-to-solidworks.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.