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Unread 21-04-2003, 02:36
DougHogg DougHogg is offline
Robot-A-Holic
FRC #0980 (The ThunderBots)
Team Role: Coach
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Rookie Year: 2002
Location: S. California
Posts: 324
DougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud ofDougHogg has much to be proud of
Drivetrain, what did you use? (post #1)

I just wanted to hear what people used for their drive trains including:

Team 980
2nd year
Motors? 2 CIMs
Drive wheels? 8 wheels, 4 at a time.
# and type of non-drive wheels? 4 wheels on the ground at a time, and the other 4 spinning in the air
Transfer system(chains, belts, etc.)? Gear boxes and chains
Transmission (not including supplied ones)? 2 Custom Gear boxes. 8 full time spinning wheels. We used pneumatics to push a lever which rotated 4 large wheels down for high gear and 4 small ones for low gear.
Steering? Tank
Sensors? Gyro for autonomous movement, potentiometers for controlling the position of 3 arms.
Success? We have a 13 foot telescoping arm which was exceptional at taking down the stack from our starting position.
Problems? We had 3 arms, one 13 footer, and 2 for pushing and stacking bins. That left us short on weight for our drive system. In making everything light enough, the drive system was too flexible and we lost chains if pushed sideways. Later we found ways to reinforce it.
Problem 2: In 3 competitions, we tipped a total of 3 times (average of 1 per competition) when rammed by other robots.
Problem 3: After watching other robots in Houston, our acceleration could have been better. 4 motors would have helped. Also in high gear, our wheel base was short which made us rocky given our high center of gravity.
Next year? I would like 4 motors in the drive train, hopefully with shifting.
__________________
FIRST Team 980, The ThunderBots
2002: S. California Rookie All Stars
2004: S. California: Regional Champion,
Championship Event: Galileo 2nd seed,
IRI: Competition Winner, Cal Games: Competition Winner
2005: Arizona: 1st seed
Silicon Valley: Regional Champion (Thanks Teams 254 and 22)
S. California: Regional Runners Up (Thanks Teams 22 and 968)

Last edited by DougHogg : 21-04-2003 at 02:43.