pic: Swamp HoverCart

[CD47-Bot]

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[WakeZero]

Hehe, I would like to see how much weight you can get that thing to support

Should we take bets? I say no more than 5 lbs... if that

I must admit, it would be very cool though. May be a fun off-season challenge.

[Tytus Gerrish]

It can barley hold its own with thoes Hi-Effency fans

I will build the big one as soon as i get a leaf blower

But i plan on using the edu robot on this little one

[Andrew Rudolph]

I built a mini hover craft out of 2 little motors like tytus used for pushing with the propellors off of rubber band gliders. It rand off of a 7.2v r/c car stick pack and when i hooked up a 12v battery the thing had half an inch of clearance from the skirt to the ground. We were going to build a bigger one using a cobalt magnet motor for r/c planes but the time just went away. hover crafts are suprisingly easy to build.

[IMDWalrus]

Is propulsion by hovercraft allowed for FIRST robots?

[sanddrag]

Originally posted by IMDWalrus
Is propulsion by hovercraft allowed for FIRST robots?

It's not disallowed.

[Gadget470]

We are considering a Hover-Cart for our robot cart.. but it will probably be scrapped because of the amount of dust it would kick up. Neat though Tytus

[Ian W.]

i ran into two problems when considering something like this as a cart....

1) This point, brought up by a visit to a sponser (Anorad Inc.) who uses large hovercraft-like devices to move large machinary around, had to have a custom built factory, with a perfectly level floor. They had a "spider-bot" that went across the still-wet concrete andusing lasers and crazy stuff like that made the entire factory floor perfectly level. Reason? The hovercrafts have no friction. Hit a slope, it's gone, and you'll have one hurting robot, and many hurting people.

2) You'll need lots of clearance. I'm talking like minimum of 2 inches. More than most robots. There's so many wires / tools / feet in the pits, anything less and you'll get stuck. You could put wheels under the skirt, just in case, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a hovercraft...

Oh, and one more thing. I don't believe gas motors will be allowed, so you'll need lots of batteries.

Get around those and build a robot carrier, and, well, you'll have the coolest robot carrier to date .

[Tytus Gerrish]

COMEON! Guys! Lemmie Dream a little. Hovercraft work i had that thing on my pool and everything It just needs a stronger powerplant THAts all!

[jason wright]

that looks really cool does it work all the time

[Gadget470]

Originally posted by Ian W.
2) You'll need lots of clearance. I'm talking like minimum of 2 inches. More than most robots. There's so many wires / tools / feet in the pits, anything less and you'll get stuck. You could put wheels under the skirt, just in case, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a hovercraft...

Well... a "Not-So-Hovercraft" would be actually optimal. Everyone remember the equations for higher friction force without changing Coefficiant of Friction? Yes.. add normal force by pulling. Well... to reduce the normal force, you need to push somehow that doesn't just shift the weight somewhere else.

For example, 70lb robot cart, 130 robot. Gotta push around 200lbs right? Well, if your blowers can lift up to 100 lbs, running them while pushing would be pushing a 100lb cart.

So having wheels isn't really a bad thing, just it won't be as cool to see unless the bot is off and just the cart is hovering.

In conclusion, an actual Hover-Cart would be uber cool.. but having a Weight Loss Cart would be cool too.

[Tytus Gerrish]

But wheeles dont work on water do they?

[Gadget470]

Very true, but my post was in response to Ian W. about using one in the pits.

[Tytus Gerrish]

It Works Everewhere

[Adam Y.]

Gear the two drill motors together. That should give you enough power to power a hovercraft. As for batteries I would use NiMH or NiCd batteries. They are lightweight and powerful. Now all you need to do is rip an impellor off an vacuum cleanor and create a box for it to create the vacuum.