Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Steele
Tristan this is an interesting comment... why did you use the fan?
My guess is that it was used to increase the "apparent weight" of the robot which would increase the normal force on the wheels which would increase the friction of the wheels with the surface. Therefore this would increase traction..
hence a traction device.
That being said.. .the battery and every other part on the robot are also traction devices by this definition ..
interesting
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Increasing the nominal downward force was, indeed, the reasoning of the rule. Fans / props were allowed that year as long as they did not increase the nominal downward force of the robot (I know, we used propellers horizontally for additional thrust).
As far as 'every other part' on the robot ... all those needed to be within the 120LB max weight (plus battery and bumpers) and thus were already accounted for in the maximum traction attainable.