Quote:
Originally Posted by Madison
When the robot is pushed sideways with its traction wheels down, the friction force resisting being pushed is exerting a torque on the cantilevered output shaft and that could be much higher loading than it'd see in normal operation.
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Yes. We had problems with this in 2014.
Quote:
Originally Posted by runneals
Also as far as the side impact forces, wouldn't the twisting/bending be directed to the side plates which would be held in the frame and restricted on how far they could flex? We used steel for our side plates which seemed to work well.
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I recall that some of our modules twisted quite a bit from the side (static and impact) forces. We had inner and outer 2 x 1 tubes so our main axle would not twist. Our gears were between the inner tube and the module so we could tolerate quite a bit of twisting in the module. In the OP's design, the twist in the modules would likely cause them to bind on the chassis tubes. (I just noticed that Gus is writing about the same thing).
Quote:
Originally Posted by runneals
Also, having the axle through the omni is REALLY nice in that you just have to remove 1 bolt if you need to change modules out
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The design has to be done with serviceability in mind. It took about an hour of fiddling to swap out one of our modules since they essentially had to be assembled in place. 148's design worked as Runneals describes, requiring about 2 minutes. The OP may want to consider what happens to the sprocket and chain inside the tube when the axle bolt is removed and how the axle can be put back in.
The OP may want to consider removing or reducing the pocketing of the module plates due to the shock loads the module may be subjected to. Depending on what the upper structure is like, it may be possible to install the cylinders in the space between the modules. This would require adding something sticking up on the top of the module for the cylinder to push against.