[bhumudar]

1. There are two advantages that we have seen so far. The first is a serious weight reduction as we don't need AM shifters. Also the ball will be made of carbon fiber wrapped in some undecided traction material. We also get a bit more friction if we were lets say trying to be pushed by another robot. This is due to the fact that we can put the driving wheels perpendicular to the incoming force, thus allowing the friction between the ground and the ball as well as the driving wheel and the ball. The second advantage is that we can easily disengauge the ball completely and use it as a "castor wheel".

2. LabVIEW. We have written some preliminary algorithms for the basic driving. We are now working on automating some maneuvers.

3.We still haven't decided on the exact cylinder, but will most likely use the tiny cylinder in the KOP (I can't remember the bore size). It will be mounted on a pivot point at an angle from the floor to the right of the big drive wheel.

4. We are aiming at less than 3 lbs (without including the CIM). This will depend on what materials we use (carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium). It will be a modular plugin to the chassis.

5. I have taken this into consideration, so in response, we will only be using this system if it is successfully running in a fair amount of time.