Frame
 

My team wants to stick with a basic 4 wheel drive, i want to make a suspension for each of the wheel so that it reduce the shock when the bot hits the bump at full speed

Re: Frame
 

Fair enough. Let us know how it goes.

Re: Frame
 

Do you have a question, or are you just stating fact?

Re: Frame
 

im asking do u think i should try to talk them into the ideal or just let it be basic?

Re: Frame
 

The idea is certainly worth presenting to your team, whether they choose to try it out or not. Suspensions range from simple to complex and everything in between, so depending on your team's resources it may or may not be a good choice. Just make sure you have a concrete design to implement the suspension, that way you can sell the idea and successfully build it. Good luck.

Re: Frame
 

Basic 4 wheel drive is not the worst choice this year. If your team is comfortable with doing that, you will likely be more successful than trying an unknown design and having an epic fail.

Will a suspension help? I can't say, I have never tried it. Old Ford Model T cars - the first mass-produced cars - did not have much of a suspension, because it had to travel over very poor roads (modern cars could not possibly travel on early 20th century roads), and because suspensions cost money.

You should consider: what will the effects of a big jolt to the robot be? If there will be bad effects, then will they be solved with a suspension? Lastly, what kind of suspension exactly? Have a very specific, well-thought-out and buildable design in hand to show them, along with answers to those 3 questions, because if you don't, then don't expect anyone to consider your idea seriously.

Good luck.

Re: Frame
 

I respectfully disagree, Don. The Model T suspension is not what we would consider optimum for handling on today's roads, but it was great for the conditions of the time. It has a lot of travel, and it's a simple, reliable design.

As for a 4wd robot needing suspension....as far as I can tell, a simple 4wd skid steer robot is the best design for NOT needing suspension! it keeps at least 3 of it's four wheels on the in contact with the carpet when going over the bump, unlike 6wd and 8wd designs which have at least two wheels off in the air.

Also you might have the possibility of the bumpers dipping below the BUMPER ZONE during rough pushing play, which might not be wise.

Re: Frame
 

i have a thought out ideal, have the axle on a milled out plate, and have it be able to go up and down then have compression springs attached to it, i have a detailed drawing of the dim, i wish i could post it but dont know how

Re: Frame
 

Also think about how many times you'll actually want to cross the bumps, and how likely it is that your driver could slow down or stop before driving over the bump. I think you probably do not want to drive any robot over it very fast.

I personally see no need for suspension, it's just one more thing that takes a lot of time to design and perfect, and that adds weight and can break.

There are plenty of other challenges this year....then hanging one is worthy of a lot of effort.

Re: Frame
 

my thought is if u can reduce the chance of tipping it worth the time to look into it, hitting it at any angle greatly increase the the bot to flip

Re: Frame
 

Just be careful when using a suspension on wheels that are powered by chain - if there is too much play in the suspension and the chain is stationary on the other end, you can end up messing up your tension when you hit a bump (in the worst case, you could even throw a chain).

Re: Frame
 

true but i have that all figured out

Re: Frame
 

depending on how it works and when, you could actually increase your chance of tipping by causing a sudden shift in the robots center of gravity. of course, this is something you could flush out through testing.

Re: Frame
 

You would probably be best served by applying all the technical know-how you've got to keeping the Center of Gravity (CoG) as low and centrally located as possible. The benefits of this will probably far exceed those of a fancy suspension, especially one that you aren't actually constructing right now.

Re: Frame
 

OK, but the one time I rode in one, my teeth came loose - and the road was not all that bad.

The lesson here is that I should not base my entire opinion on a single data point. :)

Re: Frame
 

How about pneumatic tires (aside from perhaps having too much traction)?