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Originally Posted by Marygrace
Just wondering, do you guys have any center of gravity problems?
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Dealing with this robot's center of gravity has been one of the most challenging aspects of its design. As such, our solution is also the design element that we expect to give us the most problems during competitions.
Our problems are not as you may expect, however, in that we're not too worried about it tipping over as it drives around the field. The arm and claw mechanism weigh 35 lbs. and can be stored directly above the robot, and while this does raise the center of gravity slightly, it's not nearly as concerning as having a 10' long arm extended outward from the robot is.
The challenge we faced was that of an additional unknown that many FIRST robots do not have to consider. Many teams, when designing robots, can safely assume that their chassis orientation with respect to Earth does not change -- that is, things are always level or at some known angle. Our design does not have this assurance, and so insuring that our chassis remains level to Earth was a prime design consideration. Therein lies our problem with center of gravity. An unknown or errant center of gravity means that keeping our robot's orientation known and controlled is very difficult, if not impossible.
We do, however, believe we have a viable solution.
