Minimum Ground Clearance?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Jared341

Just because FIRST says the field is flat, does not mean the field is flat. Regardless of game, I would be hesitant to recommend anything less than 1/2" of clearance (and I would feel safer up around 3/4").

Seconding this recommendation. IF the field claims it is flat there is a fairly good chance that there will be some flex in the floor under the field. This also why omni directional drive systems need some sort of suspension to keep all the wheels touching.

[JamesCH95]

95 typically aims for 3/4in-1in. It's a comfortable margin on carpet thickness, and very close on that 3/4in plywood. Go conservatively high if you use a skyway type, or similar, wheel where the wheel tread wears down appreciably.

The robot is not a track car (duh? ) so there usually isn't much advantage to a very low ground clearance in my experience.

[Chris is me]

We ran as low as half an inch last year without issue. We could drive and turn anywhere and never got hung up. Just because your ground clearance is less than a bump doesn't mean you'll get hung up on it. Lots of teams had less than 12 inches of ground clearance in 2010

On a "flat" field, I would recommend a half inch minimum. On a field with any obstacle, I'd probably recommend raising that up a notch or two. If next year's game has obstacles, we'll probably just throw bigger wheels onto our drivetrain to make it easy.

[Brandon Holley]

Once upon a time I made the decision to shoot for ~1/8" ground clearance. This was for Overdrive. Little did I know that the field would have raised bumps holding up the center divider. While it didn't cause a massive issue, it was something we needed to monitor throughout the season.

I would recommend at the minimum 3/8", with somewhere between 1/2"-3/4" to be ideal.

-Brando

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

We ran as low as half an inch last year without issue. We could drive and turn anywhere and never got hung up. Just because your ground clearance is less than a bump doesn't mean you'll get hung up on it. Lots of teams had less than 12 inches of ground clearance in 2010

On a "flat" field, I would recommend a half inch minimum. On a field with any obstacle, I'd probably recommend raising that up a notch or two. If next year's game has obstacles, we'll probably just throw bigger wheels onto our drivetrain to make it easy.

Just to throw a wrench in this discussion. Years like 2005 saw teams get hung up on tetras due to either having too much or too little ground clearance. Also, in games like 2003 you had to worry about wheel width.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Just to throw a wrench in this discussion. Years like 2005 saw teams get hung up on tetras due to either having too much or too little ground clearance. Also, in games like 2003 you had to worry about wheel width.

That's why 330 put blocks on the very front of their frame on the bottom--high ground clearance, comparatively (say, about 2-2.5 inches where the blocks weren't), but I don't remember that we ever got hung up on a tetra. (It also provided a good place to mount our loading-zone feelers.) The blocks were designed with an angled back so we could escape from a tetra if it did get under us.