Ramp compatibility & falling

[rachal]

The hybrid ramp/scoring robots I'm seeing are worrying me because their ramps are too thin for normal sized (28x38) robots to climb. (We're probably making our chassis smaller because of that.) If you have a ramp, how wide are you making it?

Also, how are you planning on dealing with tipping while climbing/being lifted? I'm not too worried about falling if we land right side up, but crashing over sideways could do some serious damage to our manipulator... (haha, note the 2005 manipulator bending in my icon)

We could put in a weak joint that will break before the manipulator itself does, but it's still risky =P

[MTA Gearheads]

Team 1856's Ramp is 35 inches wide, 24 inches long and the climb to the top is 9 inches

[DjAlamose]

I can't give you specific sizes, but I can tell you that our ramp will be plenty big for a robot of any size or orientation to get on. Along with that, the degree of our ramp should be less than 8 deg. And yes, we are planning on going for the 12" mark with 2 robots.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by DjAlamose

I can't give you specific sizes, but I can tell you that our ramp will be plenty big for a robot of any size or orientation to get on. Along with that, the degree of our ramp should be less than 8 deg. And yes, we are planning on going for the 12" mark with 2 robots.

Same here. 8 degree transitions, 2 robots up, 12+" high, and at least 37" wide.

[Ben Piecuch]

8 degrees? If I've done my math correctly, and you're raising a robot (or two) to 12" with the ramp alone, you're saying that your ramp will be over 7 feet long?

Well, every year I'm absolutely amazed by a few robots out there. Based on this thread alone, I guess I'll be amazed by at least two of them...

BEN

Ah, Rick beat me to the math...!

[Fred Sayre]

I am guessing maybe it is not just a ramp that gets the robots to 12", but also a lifting mechanism.

[MattB703]

... or the ramp is hinged at more than one point?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by DjAlamose

I can't give you specific sizes, but I can tell you that our ramp will be plenty big for a robot of any size or orientation to get on. Along with that, the degree of our ramp should be less than 8 deg. And yes, we are planning on going for the 12" mark with 2 robots.

8 degrees up 12 inches is a 7 foot plus ramp! How can you compress that into your robot? How stury? How heavy?

[Allison K]

We're going for 36" wide, 2 robots, 12" high, and....0 degrees. Weight has been the limiting factor for the width.

[MrForbes]

If most other teams are building wide ramps, I guess we only need the narrow one we were considering