2609: What is this?
 

Yup, that's exactly what you're thinking of :)

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

a unicycle?

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

gyroscope?

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

a very heavy robot :)

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Tell me if I'm wrong but that looks like a fly wheel?

That's a very cool idea, my team was playing around with the idea and actually made one, but figured we couldn't fit that and a ball handler in the same robot and stay under weight. I'm glad to see someone is doing it so I can see how it will work.

Really cool idea though, I love it.

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Cool a gyrosocopic turner! Check out this paper for theory of operation:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4560708/Tu...on-Systems-8pp

Then answer the question....where should you apply force to make the robot turn left?

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Update: this picture was taken before actual robot assembly.
Please feel free to make any fair assumptions ;)

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

a gimbal-

good job

eager to see how it works

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Update #2: Here's a video for anyone interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ2QqUsUn1w

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

So how are you planning on getting power to the wheel if it's going to be rotating inside that cage like in that video? I suppose you could just do wires and untwist them but I was wondering if you were going to use mercury rings or brush rings.

-Vivek

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

It must be all of those since it's "exactly what you're thinking of."

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

If I can't think of anything, does it exist?

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Wow, very interesting. So you're going to control the tilt of the wheel, to help it turn? Not very familiar with gyros.

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Interesting to see an idea we discussed (and abandoned) on kickoff day, being tried!

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

maybe its a wheel in a cage on a somewhat base thing? :ahh:

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

*Shakes head*
I am amazed at the endless ... and somewhat strange.. ways of controlling the bots this year... this is one of the reasons i love FIRST.

Good luck to you all... i want to see that in action

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

AWESOME work guys....very cool to see teams taking such a creative approach

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

We were actually going to do this but ran out of time. http://www.scribd.com/doc/4560708/Tu...on-Systems-8pp
This is alost exactly the design we had. Great idea tho. Can't wait to se how it works out.

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Make sure to true the wheels the Thursday before competition. I was a bike mechanic this summer, and I was surprised how little a wheel has to be out of true in order to cause a LOT of vibration. I would suggest taking the wheel to an area bike shop, truing only takes 3-5 minutes, and most of them will do it for free. If you really want to do it yourself (which I wouldn't suggest unless you have half an hour to kill or you've done it before), here's a guide.

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

That's a bold approach, hopefully it works out well for you. I'm wondering about why you have a tire on the bike rim though... If you're using it as a flywheel you'd want a lot of inertia and hence a lot of mass where the rim is. Wouldn't it make more sense to bolt or rivet some steel strap to the rim instead of using the tire? Unless maybe you filled it with water or something. ;)

I love seeing bike parts on robots, they seem like such a sensible thing to use! (I don't remember who, but I saw pictures of a team using bike chain for their drive this year... maybe 359?)

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

So looking at the video and looking at the paper on gyroscopic propulsion. It is a really cool idea to move your robot, but just a little confused. I am pretty sure with the way the forces are applied wouldn't you have to mount the wheel at a diagonal making your robot go straight instead of turn all the time.

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

It seems to me that
a: you could power the wheel by placing a simple AndyMark wheel against it and spinning the AndyMark wheel. This would be easier with the bike tire on it.

b: you can make up for lack of physical weight (a good thing on a robot limited in weight) with more speed.

Yes? No?

Re: 2609: What is this?
 

Awesome!