Pro's and Con's of Motorized Robot Carts

[1502]

Just wondering what teams have one and what everyone thinks of them. Even after 4 years of FRC in Michigan, I've yet to see any motorized carts. Is this different in other states? We've always had one and have never had any problems with it. Next year we'll be unveiling a new one with even greater maneuverability.

Edit: This is meant to get the word out that they are not bad and if done right can make a team more efficient while not making any volunteers unhappy.

[legogeek24]

Biggest Con would be transporting it - ours probably can't come to St. Louis with us . But I really like having a motorized cart for the 'bot. We started with one this year via a modified electric wheelchair base and it worked great. It makes it convenient and easy to transport the robot as well as any accessories, parts, batteries, etc. that you need to and from the field, but mostly it just adds to that all-important cool factor .

But I will say I didn't see any other at Salt Lake this year, and I never remember any at Portland, Seattle, or Sacramento either. A motorized cart is definitely not a necessity, more of a luxury and convenience, but I like 'em. It would have sure made that walk from the pits to the field in Atlanta soooo much nicer!

I'm neither for, nor against them, but all I have to say is this quote:

"How many motorized carts do you see on the Einstein field?"

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

"How many motorized carts do you see on the Einstein field?"

How is this relevant to building motorized carts?

Originally Posted by O'Sancheski

How is this relevant to building motorized carts?

The best teams in FIRST make it to Einstein. They don't have motorized carts.

It means you really don't need one. With the weight and size of a motorized cart, you can have a beefed up normal cart. I've seen carts carry tons of batteries, a toolbox, a screen with scouting data on it, and even one that weighs so little it's like pushing a 150 pound box with a tap of the foot.

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

The best teams in FIRST make it to Einstein. They don't have motorized carts.

This shouldn't turn someone away because all the teams that make it to Einstein don't use them. This is kind of like the Mecanum wheels and Einstein. There will eventually be a Mecanum robot on Einstein, maybe in the future there will be a motorized cart on Einstein.

Originally Posted by O'Sancheski

This shouldn't turn someone away because all the teams that make it to Einstein don't use them. This is kind of like the Mecanum wheels and Einstein. There will eventually be a Mecanum robot on Einstein, maybe in the future there will be a motorized cart on Einstein.

Touché. There may be, there may be not, Only time will tell, and only teams that make a motorized cart will find out. Just passing on the information given to me.

[kjohnson]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

The best teams in FIRST make it to Einstein. They don't have motorized carts.

Just because they are the best, doesn't mean other teams have to do what they do. Sure, I want to get to Einstein, but I don't have to transport my robot like the Einstein teams do.

Building a motorized robot cart might not take you to Einstein, but could be a great summer project to use up some of those spare parts. Our 2010 robot didn't perform too well and was small enough to fit through the tunnel (and a standard size door). We are contemplating taking that working drivetrain and chassis, adding in an old IFI control system and a simple lift, and modifying it into something useful.

Originally Posted by nukemknight

Just because they are the best, doesn't mean other teams have to do what they do. Sure, I want to get to Einstein, but I don't have to transport my robot like the Einstein teams do.

Building a motorized robot cart might not take you to Einstein, but could be a great summer project to use up some of those spare parts. Our 2010 robot didn't perform too well and was small enough to fit through the tunnel (and a standard size door). We are contemplating taking that working drivetrain and chassis, adding in an old IFI control system and a simple lift, and modifying it into something useful.

The way I interpreted it was that the teams on Einstein know the pros and cons of the motorized cart and stay away from it because of them. I'd love to build one, but to actually use it would probably get some people angry (I like to please the robot inspectors), and would be a pain to use in the pit.

That being said, I still have the CAD for one. Won't ever build it, but it's still cool (maybe a motorized vehicle for promotional stuff, but not for the competition, like the OP was talking about)

[Tom Line]

From a practicality standpoint, a motorized cart is useless. It's a bit like a hybrid automobile in that regard.

However, there are positives to making one if the students do it and learn from it. It's another chance for them to learn to wire, gear, power, and program a robot correctly.

Do NOT put flashing lights, music, noise makers, or other beepers on it. Underglow is cool and looks acceptable.

If, however, you've got extra bumpers, putting a couple of those on your cart would be appreciated when you over-zealous cart drive runs over someone else (as happened to me twice this weekend).

[PayneTrain]

My thing is, why build a motorized cart when you can build a ROBOT that you can you can use to strictly demo?

[Kim Masi]

I think the trend of those carts stemmed from 2003 championship where the walk from the pit to the field was atrocious, and required going up and down many flights. As a tiny girl on the drive team, pushing those robots gets tiresome. It was similar, but probably not as bad in Atlanta.

When I was in high school, 177's cart wasn't motorized, but we had a mechanical scissor lift that could lift and lower the robot for easy work in the pits. This made the cart really heavy.

Honestly I'm kind of "meh" on the idea of motorized carts. I see students just driving them around to play with them, and that's where it gets dangerous

[Cal578]

Question: When people talk about a "Motorized Robot Cart" in this context, is "Remote Control" (wireless or tethered) implied? I can see how that gets more dangerous, and more tempting for people to play around. What if it were more like a self-propelled lawn mower: when you pull a lever while holding the handle, you get motor assist, but if you let go, it stops/coasts.

I'm not an inspector, but I think they would likely not prohibit a simple motor-assist design. I'm also not an event volunteer, but I think they would not be annoyed by this (they probably wouldn't notice, since it is less likely that anyone would be goofing off with such a cart).

Our team had a motorized cart several years ago (before I was with the team). They said it was too big, and caused trouble, so they removed the motors and smallerized the cart. [Everybody please start using "smallerize"; I want to make it a real word. 8-) ] That cart has served us well for several years now. Although, now there's talk of a new-and-improved cart, with scissor lift and such. I think good things will come of that. It will make a useful summer project, with goals->requirements->design, hands on work, imagery, and much potential team benefit.

[zachmartin1806]

We used our cart every match this year at both Kansas City and OKC without a complaint from any of the volunteers or the safety judges.

EDIT: We made the cart in 2008 and have taken it to every event since, this includes Champs twice (2008 & 2009), Kansas City (2009-2012), STL Regional (2009 & 2010), 10,000 Lakes (2011), OKC (2012), Cowtown Throw Down (Off-season event 2008-2011), plus many other promo and demo events.

[PAR_WIG1350]

Technically we have a motorized cart. Sometimes we use the battery compartment to store stuff, batteries go in the middle under the robot since they are big and don't fit through the gap in the sides, but tools would fall out of that area of the cart, the battery compartment, on the other hand, has enclosed sides...