Re: Robots that float
 

amen...

Re: Robots that float
 

the thing is the robot doesn't need to float the whole time. It could only float at the end when it needs to if its possible.

Re: Robots that float
 

Your robot cuts off at the end of the match. This would be impossibel to keep it off the ground without any power..( well...if you could use your mind to keep it up i guess you could use brain power :D )

Re: Robots that float
 

That is why brain power is wonderful!

Re: Robots that float
 

These are the same people that say having a monkey for a pet is a bad idea.
I think in the future, both ideas will have their place in the world of FIRST. :cool:

Re: Robots that float
 

Just to mix it up a little bit.

Can you potentially build a robot so small, so light, with just the basic components that it weights about 10-20 lbs, and it attach itself to another robot such that it remain off the ground for the entire match?

Think super small version of the 2004 Bionic Poof robot. Small arm that latch onto another robot and winch itself up.

Yeah....

Re: Robots that float
 

it would be surprising to see a hover-bot, but i don't see it getting past regionals. it would be easy to push around, and/or acually accidentally tipped over. and for whoever said lines to the ceiling, if that's not actually in the rules, if your rope got caught up there, there isn't going to be a great way to get it down. so you may get penalized.

Re: Robots that float
 

As an add-on/side note to this idea, last year 1006 made a hovercraft for our robot cart. For that purpose the concept works wonderfully ;) (Apart from when the battery on the leaf blower dies half way to the field...). It was quite simple to make, didn't cost much, and made a great conversation piece at regionals. Hovercrafts are awesome.

Re: Robots that float
 

The force needed to lift a robot should be simple to calculate, so I figure I'll try it out. Someone correct me if I make a mistake. We're going to start with a 120 pound robot. Now, assuming you choose to leave a bit of extra space, we'll go with a 26x36 robot base. the area is 936 square inches. So assuming you can have a fan put out a constant pressure output of 2 psi (shouldn't be too hard to do with CIM's...), and also assuming you can cover the entire base with the same pressure, my math tells me the hovercraft would be able to hold 1872 pounds. I may be way off here, but at least I'm trying. Lets assume that only 50% of the bottom will be lifted. This could happen by spreading out two lifting fan setups. The simple 2 psi system would be able to lift 936 pounds before going back down to the ground. Assuming that you are never pushed, this could actually be a viable system to drive a robot. You would be very manueverable, if you were careful and scientific in your maneuvering fan setup... Or you could steer it with another method, like a crab module or two in the center.

Again, please correct me if the math is off....

Re: Robots that float
 

Do the rules say anything about using innertubes like Ringers as part of a hovercraft skirt?

It's a curiosity question.

I'm one of those people who believe you can get a lot of juice out of those batteries to lift a 110-lb robot. I'm not worried about 20-30V doing the job. I'm worried about the current. Whether the 110-lb robot can be lifted 4" of the ground? That's an interesting dilemma I hope at least one team pushes that boundary. I would much rather see a 130-lb robot as a hovercraft myself.

Steering may not be such a problem, but it is controlling the steering so you don't oversteer or miss the rack. But if it can be done, a hovercraft robot will be absolutely "broken." By "broken" I mean that it will do so well in the game that few teams will have answers for it: Fast, too able to get past defenders, and ability to score on the move.

Re: Robots that float
 

....Good luck with that. Sounds like it would take waaaay too many batteries for that, and you would eat up all of the weight restrictions on that alone.

Re: Robots that float
 

If the robot doesn't touch the ground at any point, there wouldn't be any frictional force opposing a contact force from another robot. So the hovercraft should be extremely easy to push around.

Re: Robots that float
 

Brilliance...sheer brilliance...

Re: Robots that float
 

A hovercraft bot could be made for first, my concern would be just how high it would hover. I would expect its hover height t be less than 2 inches.

And i will buy a box of donuts for whatever team successfully creates a hoverbot and lets me drive it around a bit.

Re: Robots that float
 

I'll throw in 2 more boxes of donuts to see that!