Robot Car/War Wagon Rules

[Spirator]

Hello,

Where can I find the rules regarding the 2011 robot cart/war wagon?

We'd like to use caster wheels attached to our c-frame which we'll take off with locking pins on the field. Is this legal?

Thanks in advance.

[dtengineering]

If I understand you correctly, you are proposing that rather than using a seperate cart to move your robot from the pits to the field that you will pin casters to the bottom of your robot chassis, thus using the robot itself as the structural part of the cart.

This is an excellent idea. We used to do that with our robot when we competed in Toronto, as it saved shipping an entire robot cart out to the competition and back. I see that our trip to Toronto, however, a five hour flight, was a mere hop, skip and a jump compared to what you have ahead of you!

You may have to remove the casters in the staging/queing area and carry the robot on to the field, but aside from that I can't think of any rules preventing you from doing this... at least as I understand what you are proposing.

Jason

p.s. There aren't many rules on carts... http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...e%20Events.pdf section 4.3.2 about covers it.

[Spirator]

Will we be able to roll it onto the field?

[EricH]

Might depend on the event. There is a ramp to the field at each gate.

[Justin Stiltner]

I would not count on being able to wheel it onto the field. It may be allowed, it may not, it really depends on the people handeling the flow of traffic on the field. The chances of you being able to roll onto the field are likely greater than being able to roll off because you generally have more time to place your robot than you do retrieve it.

If you watch some of the videos of older competitions you will see that typically from the time a team enters the field to get their robot it is gone within about 10 sec. or at least on their way out. Chances are if you can get your wheels on your robot within 10 to 15 seconds they will let you use them. If it takes more than 45 sec to 60 seconds they will likely ask you to carry your robot off the field.

I suggest building a small frame that you attach your casters to that you sit your robot on to wheel it around. Also realize that at some venues you must roll your cart over a hump that cables run through. This hump may be 4" or so tall and have sloped sides, if your cart does not have that much ground clearance, you will get hung on that hump every time ( I see that every year).

Good luck and have fun!