12 October: missing material inputs

Historical input audit — a physical elastic reference was unavailable.

Read-only inspection of the four front wishbones found no captured elastic material properties. Surface bodies used a provisional 3 mm thickness with steel-density assumptions; some solid bodies retained a 1000 kg/m³ default density.

The archived vehicle mass reference of roughly 175.853 kg therefore was not a measured vehicle mass.

Why this matters

A numerical rigid-member fit can make an approximate graph resist deformation. It cannot establish the real arm’s elasticity or strength without physical material and wall-thickness inputs.

Likewise, matching a recorded mechanism’s geometry preserves joint motion but does not validate its mass or constitutive behaviour.

Action for a new project

Confirm materials and thicknesses in CAD, refresh the exported properties, and create a new physical generation. Keep the old audit attached to its old inputs; do not relabel it as evidence for a corrected build.

Local source: docs/evidence/wishbone-material-input-audit-20261012.json. Follow Components and materials and Frame calibration for current procedures.