Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

Hello everyone,

Our team has been debating back and forth on whether to encompass the totes while we are stacking.
One idea was to keep everything outside the chassis, which would be more difficult for EVOM, but much easier on the chassis people since there would be no major edits to the chassis. Another was to have a U shaped chassis, that would encompass more than half of the tote, if the tote was being held the long way, but that would require a major chassis edit and changes to electronics that may lead to major setbacks.

What are your thoughts on how to hold the totes relative to the chassis? We would love to have your input on this dilemma :)

Re: Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

The driving factor in this debate should be less whether or not it annoys your design team, and more based on how important co-op stacking is. Every other kind of stacking is possible with both designs, but you can't drive over the step.

Re: Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

I think the best option for your team would be to look at whether or not the center of mass offset provided by moving the tote inside your frame is worth the extra work based on your strategy. If you want it to be that much harder for you to tip over, then go for it! Otherwise, you might be better off allocating your resources elsewhere. There is no "incorrect" way of completing this challenge (unless it violates the rules.)

Re: Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

Did you already build your chassis and electronics before you knew what your robot would be doing?

As far as deciding where to put totes,consider the weight of a stack of totes and where that weight will be relative to your C.G. and relative to where your wheels touch the floor.

Re: Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

Agreed. We did discuss this, and do have a way for either design to do co-op.

Re: Encompassing Totes vs. Holding Them Outside Perimeter
 

We had planned a West Coast chassis and have a standardized e-plate design. Before the West Coast chassis was introduced, we had a standardized chassis that we used for the two years before that (2013-2014). We have historically been a strong defensive robot, so this is definitely a new challenge for us--chassis has always been pretty much the same, so we aren't sure if making this change will allow us to finish on time.

That being said, we will definitely have to calculate how much the center of gravity will be offset dependent on where the boxes are held relative to the chassis.