Cart Rules

[Sixis]

Hey guys, for some reason I keep thinking that there was some rule this year that prohibited carts from having more than 2 wheels. A quick check of the manual/ CD search didn't turn up anything. Can anyone quickly sort this out for us?

[EricH]

There are few rules governing carts. The ones that are there are mainly practical limitations, as follows:

 Carts must remain in the team pit area when not in use for robot transportation;
 All carts should fit through a standard 30-inch door;
 Wheels on the cart must not damage site flooring; and
 Do not add music or other sound devices to the cart.

Nothing about number of wheels. (Also note--carts may need to traverse cable protectors/slightly uneven flooring.)

I would also add that height should be considered in the "fit through a standard door" requirement.

[GaryVoshol]

No such rule, which doesn't make sense anyway.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Administrative Manual, Section 4.3.2
 Carts must remain in the team pit area when not in use for robot transportation;
 All carts should fit through a standard 30-inch door;
 Wheels on the cart must not damage site flooring; and
 Do not add music or other sound devices to the cart.
Too bad so many teams ignore the noise ordinance for the carts.
I still don't understand the whole tricked out robot cart thing. Why not put more time and energy into building a better robot?

[WizenedEE]

Too bad so many teams ignore the noise ordinance for the carts.
I still don't understand the whole tricked out robot cart thing. Why not put more time and energy into building a better robot?

Building a cart is a great off-season project for the metal shoppers.

Our cart has six wheels, with the center ones dropped.

[PAR_WIG1350]

How would a 2 wheeled cart work? I would thing it would be frustrating, but I don't know. A self balancing segway type cart would be interesting though.

[team 3311]

How would a 2 wheeled cart work? I would thing it would be frustrating, but I don't know. A self balancing segway type cart would be interesting though.

very large gyroscopes they are so cool

[davidthefat]

How would a 2 wheeled cart work? I would thing it would be frustrating, but I don't know. A self balancing segway type cart would be interesting though.

A wheelbarrow
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wheelbarrow.jpg

[Al Skierkiewicz]

If you are making your cart from scratch, consider using it as a work table in the pit. That is, it must be high enough to allow you to work comfortably but not so high that the robot on top doesn't go through a door. Many venues have access to the field through doorways between the pits and the field.

[Captaindan]

hey guys the yellow wagon from lowes painted your team color works great

[Captaindan]

but of course get your hands on a wheelchair and there are endless possibilities

[Conor Ryan]

Depending on how the robot is balanced on the cart, it may not be permissible because of safety precautions. Common sense safety is always imperative.

[zachmartin1806]

We made our cart in '08, it has an old electric wheelchair motor to drive it and a scissor lift table so we can work on the robot in our pit and bring it down when we are transporting it. But like previously said carts are an off season project.

[dbeckwith]

That is, it must be high enough to allow you to work comfortably but not so high that the robot on top doesn't go through a door.

That might be difficult for a lot of teams that have tall arm mounts, such as ours. Our cart that we have is just high enough so we don't have to bend over to work on the robot, but the robot is definitely is too tall for a door when it's on the cart.

[Tom Line]

That might be difficult for a lot of teams that have tall arm mounts, such as ours. Our cart that we have is just high enough so we don't have to bend over to work on the robot, but the robot is definitely is too tall for a door when it's on the cart.

That may be problematic. There are venues that we've been to where you need to fit through a normal doorway. I don't think you're going to want to have to stop, take your robot off your cart, then put it back on once you are through the door. I'd reconsider the height.

[DavidGitz]

A wheelbarrow
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wheelbarrow.jpg
This is funny.

[Karibou]

We use something very similar to this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002RLLKAY%3FSubscriptionId%3D0MG7CQ2BEV40Q86WF1R2 %26tag%3Dsukoi-adsen-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D386 001%26creativeASIN%3DB002RLLKAY). Every year we change it a bit, adding on supports so that it holds up the robot in the right places, but it has worked well in the pit. Being able to adjust the height is very convenient - we can raise it if we need to work on something lower down on the bot, but when the table is all the way down, the robot easily fits through doors.

[PAR_WIG1350]

That might be difficult for a lot of teams that have tall arm mounts, such as ours. Our cart that we have is just high enough so we don't have to bend over to work on the robot, but the robot is definitely is too tall for a door when it's on the cart.

It might be possible to modify the cart so that the robot lies down on top of it, That would allow you to use the same cart to hold and move your robot.