Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

For those of you that have driven on this surface, what are the specs on the drivetrains? How many CIMs, what gear ratios, etc.

Thanks!

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

We shopped around and were able to purchase it for only $24 a sheet at Menard's. Other local prices were as follows for Rockford, IL:

Home Depot: $27
Lowes: $25

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

Unfortunately, to get a real feel for how the controlled acceleration and uncontrolled momementum will affect the robot and trailer, you're gonna need more than 1 sheet.

I'm getting the feeling that testing on anything other than that material will give you a false idea of what you will really be facing.

And in order to develop your game playing strategy it would be better to know just how manueverable you can expect to be, as well as the speed you will be able to move around at.

2 minutes may seem like alot, but it will go by quickly, when you are slipping and sliding & going no where fast.

The wildstang video is an interesting testiment to what to expect.
I wondering if that robot has the steerable powered wheels or not??

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

So a good suggestion would be to team up with other teams in your area, pitch in with the costs and time for building a practice field, then set some days/times to drive around. Maybe invite other local teams that didn't pitch in.

That's GP.

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

about the whole wide or narow thing, doesn't it say in the rules somewhere that the trailer has to be attached to the 28" long side of the robot? something I thought I heard our rules head or one of our mentors mention.

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

AFAIK the only rule with the hitch is that it is a certain height from the ground and parallel with it (2 13/16" height??) and the tongue of the trailer can never touch the bot, only the trailers bumpers can touch your bot at any time.

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

This is a very useful video, thanks Stang!

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

:yikes: Wow dude this is sweet! Everyone finally can see how these wheels work! =D

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

Thanks for the videos! Question though:

How was the Wildstang bot set up? Did the front and back wheels rotate all together or as pairs? I'm wondering how effective a swerve drive would be compared to a standard 4wd setup; could you compare the two by turning the "swerve" off and running it as tank drive? You could also easily compare the 4wd handling of a "short and wide" frame to a "long and narrow" one.

I expect the swerve drive to be able to turn and control the trailer much better, but 4wd is so easy to implement and I'm not sure swerve would be worth the extra work/weight/complexity for our team. Also, the time spent developing a swerve drive might be better spent on driving practice (for us).

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

Here's a video Team 910 / the Foley Freeze shot tonight of our robot driving around on the FRP material with the new "slick" KOP wheels. We used the awesome new Team221.com Universal Chassis and for extra weight, we threw on four batteries. We're also using the new 2009 control system which is working out quite well for us so far.

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeOg23c91As

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

All of the videos so far are great! It's not quite as slick as I thought it would be, but robots are still going to be sliding all over the place during competition. It'd be nice if we could get shots of robots driving around with real game trailers to see how much driveability is affected.

Drivers are gonna need a bit of practice this year. :)

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

anyone test from both the wide and narrow configurations yet?

Re: VIDEO of our bot moving
 

Thanks for the videos. It is not as bad as I expected. You are right about driver practice.