[Thad House]

In 2013, our robot had a high COG because of our shooter placement. In addition, all of the weight was in the back half of robot. We weighed about 100 lbs. When we added our hanger at worlds, we added about 20 lbs of lifting weights to the front of our robot, and moved the battery to the front, in order to move our COG forward enough to hang, and low enough to still be drivable. It was still very tippy, and the match we played defense we rocked so much it looked like we were going to tip the entire match.

In 2014. 70 lbs was less then 6 inches off the floor, and the robot only weighed 100 lbs. We had absolutely no rocking issues. But if we had needed more weight for pushing, we had plans on how to add it.

We realized that avoiding defense with speed was better then avoiding by pushing. So unless we wanted to specifically be a defensive robot, it would be best to plan for as light as possible, then use additional weight if needed to make sure the robot doesn't tip and remains drivable.