[Nathan]

Originally Posted by MichaelBick

You can get all these parts from vexpro.

Based on the 60lb max requirement, this puts you well into MiniCim territory. MiniCims on a 10:1 versaplanetary is perfect for your application.

Thanks, we will check those out!

Originally Posted by stinglikeabee

*Standard disclaimer* The following is meant to be a guide, and by no means is an exhaustive list of what needs to be done.

I understand your objective weight is 30 lbs, but that's really hard to achieve; 60 lbs is more reasonable. I would suggest using this number, assuming no mechanisms or devices are mounted to your vehicle. 30lbs will likely be your drive chassis, wheels, and transmissions.

Those are good numbers on speed. You can take these (6 and 4 mph) to determine the velocity against the ground required at each wheel. This speed will be used to get a gear ratio with the motor.

The reason for acceleration is to find horsepower (think in terms of Work). For now, you may want to make an assumption - maybe 6 mph can be reached in 6 seconds (just make something up). The horsepower rating is required to size the motor needed to accelerate your vehicle in a given time. In conjunction with the scrub force on the wheels and your wheel size (width and diameter), calculate the torque required for each mode of operation (forward, reverse, turning). This will allow you to size the motor get torque.

From here, build a "mission profile", where you lay out how the vehicle is intended to be used: turn on with a systems check, 10 seconds idle, 15 seconds full power acceleration, 85% cruise for 10 minutes, deceleration to 0 mph in 10 seconds, accelerate to 3 mph for 4 seconds at 100% power, drive an 8% grade hill while maintaining 4.5 mph, accelerate to 6 mph at 85% power, etc. This is a simple bookkeeping method that will allow you to size your battery. Using the required current draw from this profile, you can verify or select a battery that will provide the proper current for the time you need. For this vehicle, you may be able to use the standard 18 Amp-Hour 12V battery used by FRC, but it has to be proven first.

Some prototyping of the drivetrain and measurement of each motor's current draw in a loaded system will help validate your initial assumptions or prove them to be incorrect. From here, you can size your battery appropriately.

Thanks for all of your advice, we will get working on that!

Originally Posted by stinglikeabee

Is there a reason for the cRIO? Speed of development (LabVIEW), sponsorship? Ruggedness? If weight is a concern, I would suggest driving this system using an Arduino and coding through LabVIEW or the Arduino IDE to save at least a pound and a half. Additionally, the MyRIO should be entering the market soon (if not already). It is the platform that the 2015 FRC RoboRIO was leveraged off of (as well as the NI cRIO 9068). Either of these should handle the Kinect output in real-time, assuming there is a LabVIEW driver built.

My mistake, we actually are planning on using the MyRIO.. The reason is due to sponsorship and also because we thought it would be a good opportunity for students to learn how to use LabVIEW.