Thread: Additions to the Kit of Parts
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Unread 23-06-2002, 23:02
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#0047 (ChiefDelphi)
  
Join Date: May 2001
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Re: Additions to the Kit of Parts
Posted by Samuel Lindhorst.

Engineer on team #240, Mach Vee, from Jefferson High School and Visteon.

Posted on 5/19/2000 4:32 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Additions to the Kit of Parts posted by Mike McIntyre on 5/15/2000 12:20 AM MST:



: We had an incredibly generous donation to the kits by SMC and yet few teams used the pneumatics because they couldn't afford the weight. We couldn't afford it (when you've already invested a huge portion of your weight on the source of electric power, it's hard to accomodate another power source). I think that a nice twist next year would be to write in the rules that each robot is limited to 6 electric motors, but there would be no limit to pneumatic accuators; this would definitely 'inspire' teams to take a serious look at using pneumatics and thereby opening up the topic of fluid power to the masses.

We didn't have the pneumatics kit until 4 weeks into the build, and that meant all design decisions had been forced to be made long before. Although we wanted to try it, and waited for the kit to arrive while delaying a few things that hurt us in the end, we won't make that mistake again next year. If it's not there when we get ready to design, it's not a factor. Half the teams received theirs late, and I think this more than anything prevented their use.

And really, I think your statement is telling, Mike. Our power systems are heavy because we use accumulators for our power, and reasonably priced accumulators are heavy. Putting two power systems on a robot doesn't leave a lot of weight for much else. Although there were a few uses that looked pretty clever, and there are 'just right' uses for pneumatics, like gripper operation, few of us had a weight budget that allowed another 30lb. subsystem.

Sam


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