[FTC]: Concrete?

[ksafin]

Hi all.

I submitted this question to the Q&A but it's been 3 days without reply so I wanted to ask here while I'm waiting. My team wants to make a block of concrete from raw mix. I we would make this concrete into some block and put it on the back of our lifting robot to actas a counterweight to tthe robot we'll be livingon our front end .

It is a raw material, and I haven't seen any other ruel that would disallow it, but so, so you think we could do it CD?

[Andrew Remmers]

Hi all.

I submitted this question to the Q&A but it's been 3 days without reply so I wanted to ask here while I'm waiting. My team wants to make a block of concrete from raw mix. I we would make this concrete into some block and put it on the back of our lifting robot to actas a counterweight to tthe robot we'll be livingon our front end .

It is a raw material, and I haven't seen any other ruel that would disallow it, but so, so you think we could do it CD?

Why not a steel block? or Several smaller steel blocks or disks?

[ksafin]

Why not a steel block? or Several smaller steel blocks or disks?

Considerably more expensive and difficult.

We looked up some steel square tubing and whatnot, but the amount of it that we'd need to acquire, pay for, and somehow fit, is just too much (quantity and price wise).

[DonRotolo]

(whereas concrete is easily shaped into any form, unlike steel)

[Andrew Remmers]

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=13230&step=4&showunits=inches&id=230&top_cat=197

One 2"x 2"x1' bar is 13 lbs and costs $35. Relitively doesn't cost that much. And for me 13 lbs is about 1/2-1/3 of the wieght of any FTC robot I have ever built, this could very easily be used for balast by integrating it into your frame.

(whereas concrete is easily shaped into any form, unlike steel)

I do see this, but in order to mold the concrete into a usable form they may or may not have the ability to do so, so buying smaller chunks of steel and adding their collective wieght might serve as a better system of balast than a custom block of concrete. That bar can easily be cut into "washers" and just put onto the robot in smart locations based on size.

Also a point, as concrete is hard but it chips like crazy consider this is not in a safe part of their robot, I don't think I would like to be vacuuming the feild every time they played against an agressive driver. Could a Robot do this? Who knows, I'd much rather not find out.

- Andrew

[DonRotolo]

I see your point Andrew.

Of course, 60 lbs of concrete (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Search?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&keyword=concrete%20mix&Ns=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All) costs about $2.85, and that weight is without the water. You can cast it in a cardboard mold backed by sand to keep it from moving. Wrap it in duct tape (or cast it in a milk jug or similar) to avoid any bits flaking off. You can even cast in a way to bolt it to the robot frame.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Kiril,
I would think it is legal under
R02
d. The following additional structural parts, fasteners, and materials are allowed provided that they don’t violate other rules, such as safety, entanglement, <R03>, etc. This includes no limits on quantity and size of the following materials:
1. Raw Material (e.g. metal, plastic, etc.) provided that it is readily available to all teams from standard distributors (e.g. McMaster-Carr, Home Depot, Grainger, etc.). The definition of Raw Material are items before being processed or manufactured into a functional form.
However, there are other rules that might also apply like damage to field and other robots. The Q&A is the final say on this but the local Lead Robot Inspector makes the final call when he/she sees the implementation. I would caution you to make it secure in the robot and not overly heavy. It should not drop lit bits of itself on the playing field and if it should crack I would expect you to be asked to remove it. The Illinois State Champs last week had a team with bricks used for the same reason. The team wrapped them in aluminum foil to prevent any particles from dropping on the field, they had them securely inside the robot and they looked pretty cool the way they were implemented. I passed them as legal.