Quote:
Originally Posted by JVN
It seems to me, there is no harm in re-holding this discussion. ESPECIALLY since this year's game had at least TWO unique (and somewhat subtle) design considerations which come into play here.
The fun one:
Ever wonder why some teams can hang more of their robot off the bridge than others? CG is only one half of that story... Support Polygon is the other.
Can you think of a situation in which an (evenly spaced) 6WD would be better for balancing than an (evenly spaced) 8WD?
The boring one:
Also of course, the number of wheels, and ground clearance play a large role in the bump crossing design challenge.
Perhaps some of the teams who used 6WD or 8WD this year could share their justifications for doing so, and how the unique design considerations of this game came into play in their decision making?
To some of us, the process is the most interesting part of this competition... 
-John |
Our team found a fairly unique solution to meet all of our drivetrain expectations for this year.
-go over the bump fast and stable
-perform a triple balance (take up little bridge space)
-difficult to push
-easy to push others
-not stupidly complex
We came up with an asmytrical 6 wheel drive with an extra pair of raised wheels. The robot has a very stable 16" wheel base which makes for solid and stable turning in a wide robot. The back wheels are 4" by 2" wide IFI wheels raised 1/8" so when we were going over the barrier or pushing robots up the bridge we would have the furthest back and highest traction point of contact with the ground we were able to. The inner wheels are 4" colson wheels which have excelent bridge traction. When we were only part of the way on the bridge these wheels allowed us to pull the rest of the robot on to the bridge. Because of our wheel configuration we could also hang the back of our robot off the bridge so long as the third pair of wheels were on. This wheel configuration combined with our drop-down fins also allowed us to take advantage of low bumpers which had numerous pluses in this game including making it difficult for others to push you, not riding over balls, and getting under other robot's bumpers when pushing them up the bridge to balance. The raised wheels were only for contact going over the barrier, we would have grounded out on the barrier immobilzing us for the rest of the match at least 5 times this season without them providing that key contact. The front wheels were the 6" older kit wheels which we chose as optimal to first contact the barrier with. These wheels were lathed roundish to provide less turning scrub.
Hopefully someone found that interesting!
Regards, Bryan
(P.S. picture of what I was trying to explain)