Trailer Weight
 

Does anyone know an approximate weight of the trailers. I'm trying to figure out how much of an impact it will have on the robot handling (huge or really huge).

P.S. wow most users ever on CD at one time was yesterday at 10:40pm
:yikes:

Re: Trailer Weight
 

I really can't be sure about it, but if its anything like a basic physics simulation I set up, it's going to be really hard to turn.
(REALLY HUGE)

(Google Sketchup 7 with Sketchyphysics2)

Re: Trailer Weight
 

Any chance anyone at the kickoff weighed a real trailer?

Re: Trailer Weight
 

One of my team picked it up at the kickoff and said it was ~ the weight of a bowling ball ... So I'm assuming ~ 16 LBS + Balls

Re: Trailer Weight
 

They told us at the kickoff that the trailer weighs about 30 pounds.

Re: Trailer Weight
 

a team at VCU weighed it and said it was close to 40 pounds...and you could still push it with no effort on carpet

Re: Trailer Weight
 

Push, or turn?
Pushing it in the directin of it's wheels rotation and having it skid sideways along the floor are to different matters. The 2nd of which is compounded further by the fact your force is not bein applied directly through the wheels, but rather through the trailer hitch.

Re: Trailer Weight
 

its on 2 wheels from what i see, therefore it should turn easy. the low friction between the floor and wheels should make sideways travel alright.

Re: Trailer Weight
 

i meant pushing against the direction of the wheels normal movement while the hitch was supported...

Re: Trailer Weight
 

I went through and estimated the weights of all of the parts on the trailer per the drawings. My estimate is that the total weight will be 40.2, lose to the 40 pounds as noted in a previous post.

Re: Trailer Weight
 

Thanks Mike!

Re: Trailer Weight
 

be that as it may, dont forget what an extra moving mass will do to the robot. sure, it might be easy to get going, but you're also going to want it to stop at some point, too. it might cause drivers/coders some interesting challenges, having to compensate for the extra rotational force generated by the trailer spinning behind the robot when turning.

(correct me if im wrong with my analogy...im not a physics major at ALL :p )
for example, think of it this way. you and your younger sibling are spinning in a circle. you are the robot, and your sibling is the trailer. as you are spinning, or turning, things are all hunky dory. while you might be able to stop on a dime, your sibling, who is spinning in a larger circle, is generating a lot more centripetal (?) force, which makes it harder for them to stop. so while you might stop, they'll keep going for a little while longer. that extra amount of time that they move, while still attached to you, will pull you in the direction that they are going. the same principle applies while turning.

i guess what im trying to say is, get that trailer built quick, so you can start seeing what type of difference it will make on movement, because its gonna make things extra...umm...fun.

Re: Trailer Weight
 

Sorry Kim, I remembered my tape measure, but forgot my bathroom scale this year in Manchester. Next year I guess that's tops on my list of things to pack! :D

Re: Trailer Weight
 

i though i had read somewhere that the trailer has omni wheels so it should be able to be pushed sideways also making it (a bit) easier to spin your robot in a circle

Re: Trailer Weight
 

The trailer has the same wheels as the robot does.