Thread: Technical question about ramp balancing
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Unread 23-06-2002, 22:28
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#0047 (ChiefDelphi)
  
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My calculations, My instincts
Posted by Peter VanWylen at 1/7/2001 10:51 PM EST


Student on team #107, Team ROBOTICS, from Holland Christian High School and Metal Flow Corporation.


In Reply to: Technical question about ramp balancing
Posted by Matt Berube on 1/7/2001 6:43 PM EST:



From looking at the diagram, and from a technical point of view, there is a 6 inch wide area directly above the pivot plank, and your center of gravity for the whole system (bridge, goal(s), [robot]) must be in this area. Thus, with a pretty heavy bridge, the goals will not significantly change the center of gravity. I think that you have at least an 8-12 inch margin of error for the positioning of the goal(s) on the bridge.

However, as you suspected, a robot will make things much more diffucult. A robot is much heavier and a small change in robot position has a profound effect on the center of gravity. Thus, with the robot on top, you will have 6-7 inches to play with.

Take your pick. You can have your robot on top, but small movements will make big differences. Or you can be to the side, and have more wiggle-room, but less control over the goals -- they could easily roll off if you aren't onboard with them holding them.

Also, I have my unanswered question:
Clearly it will take two robots working together to accomplish this task if one of them is on top of the thing. One to stand still on top, one to do the balancing. But without having a robot on top, it is theorhetically possible to have one robot do everything (load, balance, and release). This would be a big advantage if you could do this all by yourself. Anyone think is could become a one-man job?


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