pic: six wheel drive articulated stair climber

[Bertman]

loading photo ...

[lenny8]

this is pretty sweet guys, good job.

[gorrilla]

what did you use to make the wooden wheels?

[RMS11]

Would a video be possible? I would love to see this thing is stair-climbing action!!

[Bertman]

band saw and drill press

[=Martin=Taylor=]

I'm surprised someone in Austin has windsurfer batons

I've always wanted to use those on a robot... got lots of old broken ones...

[Billfred]

If we as a body of competitors have tempted fate one too many times and the GDC puts a big obstacle across midfield, this is the picture that will come to mind. I second the call for video!

[Bertman]

They are not wind surfer batons, they are the limbs of a fiberglass bow used as leaf springs. And Austin has lots of windsurfing.

[JaneYoung]

At the Maker Faire in Austin this fall, 418 had this as well as the wood-coast chassis/pool noodle shooter along with some of their FIRST robots in their demo area. 2158 had set up an Overdrive field and every once in a while, one of the members of 418 would put this one out on the field for a little drive time. It's fun to watch. Hopefully, someone from the team will tell a little bit of the history behind it.

[gorrilla]

how did you attach the sprocket to the wheel?(screws? bolts?)

wooden wheels have always been interesting to me(as you can just screw things to them!)

[Bertman]

the sprockets are bolted directly to the wheels and the whole thing spins on oil impregnated brass bushings

[roboticWanderor]

Story time!
This robot was built along side the foam shooter robot, as and off season project. the chassis was actually a left over prototype from the stair climbing / bar hanging year (idk date) our team members decided to put it to good use. if you look close, you can see the helix wear pattern in the closest front wheel from the master link!
also proof of yet another wooden chassis! this thing can stand as much punishment as any of our other robots! and I'm pretty sure it's pine, although you might want to ask bertman about that.