[Alex.Norton]

Our team hasn't really ever had major problems with the actual systems on our bot breaking. We have burned plenty of motors out and all but what I have noticed us do most is keep the delicate systems on the machine inside the box and make it so the opponents hit the frame and not a shaft that could break.

When it came to set screws we made sure that if we had one in the machine it was accompanied by a hardened steel key or pin and not one of them ever sheared. I personally did the calculations for the gear reductions on the arm so it could pick up a tetra easily and still be controllable. Then in the competition we got the arm stuck in the center goal and accidentally picked up the machine so... ya.

Also, I would like to ask what a "tie rod bearing" is to the best of my knowledge the tie rods ties the steering rack to the wheel and does so using ball joints. The wheels are usually pointed a little in or out so that you get a few 10 of pounds of static force on the system and perhaps a few hundreds pounds of instantaneous force if the car hit a bump but never something like 10 tons. In fact under normal conditions no bearing in a car should have more than the weight of the car on it since cars can't accelerate that hard (of course this can change if the car hits a bump). Just wondering?

Alex