Quote:
Originally Posted by jwfoss
Seems as though 190 has a long history of using polycarb...
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That we do, polycarbonate is used for major features on almost every one of our robots. The
2003 robot deserves to be added to the list of cool polycarbonate features.
As does 2007 (some of you may be very confused at this mention). By far the most recognizable feature of the Goat-Dactyl were the giant sheet-metal ramps, but one of the most important features on them were the almost invisible
anti-rollback devices. You can see one just above the painted numbers, and they served to keep our partners above 4" in the event that the ramps didn't lift properly or in time. We relied on the toughness of the material to survive repeated robot impacts and the many many cycles of use.
We also used the insulating properties of the material to house the custom
high-power slip ring at the base of the turret in 2008.
2011 used
polycarbonate wings as an alignment device for the tower base. Because they extended well beyond the frame perimeter when deployed, not only were they designed to align the robot in a full-speed (12fps) collision with the tower, but they also had to withstand the force of a worst-case collision with another robot. Polycarbonate was the only material both light enough and tough enough for the job.
It's a wonderful engineering material for it's toughness and machinability. Unlike aluminum or steel, polycarbonate will deflect elastically to absorb the energy, which means it will return to it's original shape. This is great in applications that are likely to see high impact forces, since it will not dent or kink permanently under forces that would do the same to aluminum.