Quote:
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Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery
The disturbing part was that a few of the scouts I tried to explain the drive system to when they asked about it (and not just me, when any of our team members tried to explain it to them) seemed not to be able to comprehend how it works. But thankfully that was just a couple.
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What is so hard to explain? The AndyMark omniwheels are mounted horizontally. When they spin really, really fast (>120,000rpm) they create a 0.116" cushion of air under them and the robot becomes a hovercraft. The magnetic torquers on orthogonal axes of the robot align with the magnetic field of the earth to provide orientation. Propulsion is gained by modulating the frequencies of the torquers, generating a net repulsive force against the north pole, which allows the robot hovercraft to move anywhere on the field in a north-south direction. For east-west movement, we take advantage of the coriolis forces of the Earth's rotation.
There, that wasn't so hard, was it?
(at least that is how I think it works...)
(sorry, tongue is still stuck in cheek)