Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

I'm doing a presentation that incorporates a section about examples of successful and simple robots based on the kit chassis. What do you think were some of the best kit-chassis based robots? They can be from any year, and extra props if you include photos. Thanks!

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

What's the intended audience? If you want an example of what a rookie team did with the kit I can post some info on our implausibly successful kit chassis based machine.

T. Wolter
5826

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

Intended audience is pre-rookie teams, so I'm looking for pretty much anything. Just trying to show you can build good robots on the kit chassis.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

I recommend checking out 1114's video about the Kitbot. It is pretty old, but it still has a lot of good content.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

2014 Championship Finalist 5136 was an excellent robot built from the AM14U. It's a robot that a lot of teams, mine included, should have built in 2014.

We love the AM14U frame. We've used it in 2014 and 2015 before we had the machining resources to do a WCD. We used the AM14U3 in 2016 for a prototype testbed. It was really nice to go from box of parts to driving base in under 4 hours.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

My old team(1318) decided to switch to the kit chassis in 2013. The 2014 bot was the simplest and arguably the best. Pictures are on the TBA for each robot

http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1318/2016

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

+1
In 2014 my team used the AM14U and had our most successful year until that point. With the time we saved not designing and fabricating a chassis, we were able to build two robots (a first for the team).
The chassis held up fairly well with a few minor issues all season.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIa...ature=youtu.be

Lets see if this link works. Short video of our rookie season from test bed to wooden prototype to final version. Kit base and a lot of really sturdy steel. We became big fans of 1/2 inch rigid EMT conduit!

T. Wolter

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

The kit chassis is great. We have used it for many years.

However, its hard to beat the simplicity of a Mecanum drive using Vexes clamp on tube gearboxes. If next year is a game where Mecanum makes sense we will totally go that route even if we don't plan to utilize strafing much just for the ultimate simplicity.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

My advice is to find some way to turn this assertion around. That is, until you have proven that you can build a good robot on a (suitably modified) kit chassis, don't even think about building your own chassis. Here, I'm defining "good" as better than (oh, about) 50th percentile seeding at a local event. Once you meet this threshold, seriously think about whether spending more time on a drive train is worth it to your strategy. Unless your team is dripping talent, the answer will probably be that a custom drive train is only worth doing when the game presents unusual challenges.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

I respectively disagree. Something like a simple west coast drive is really not that much more difficult then using a KOP drive train especially if you are going to go out of your way to modify it. Plus mounting gets easier and you are not restricted at all in terms of sizing.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

While you may be correct about the physical advantages and difficulty, the biggest resource a team can control by using a kit chassis is time. The chassis can be built in a matter of hours, whereas any custom chassis will take multiple days.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

Our last three chassis have been:

2014 -- souped-up 6WD kitbot
2015 -- semi-custom 6WD-plus-drop-strafe using VexPro clamp-on-tube gearboxes (see Sam's plug earlier)
2016 -- souped-up Rhino track drive

We like starting with stuff that others have developed, and tweaking it to suit our game play priorities.

As Dave said long ago, steal from the best, then invent the rest.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

In 2013 amd 2014 we used the kit bot chassis in order to save time. Both years we won our states regional and in 2014 had one of our most successful robots reaching the semifinals of our division. Unless the game is very drive train intensive where a good drivetrain will score you points such as 2016, I would just stick to the kit chassis.

Re: Best simple robots based on kit chassis?
 

Our robot used the upgraded kit of parts chassis with the pneumatic wheels. We took an angle grinder to the front of our chassis so we can pop ourselves over the rockwall and the moat. You can easily do well with a regular kop chassis if you modify it to your needs. Here's a few pics you can't notice the angle on the front because we made it at our competition