Go to Post When your driver is the "world record holder in Mario Cart" you know it's going to be exciting for the students and stressful for the pit crew. :ahh: - lovelj [more]
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  #16   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 26-11-2011, 08:33
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Al Skierkiewicz Al Skierkiewicz is offline
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

While we see a few motorized carts come in every year, be advised that some venues do not allow them for insurance reasons. Some venues just want to minimize the amount of damage to the venue and some will make a blanket statement about all carts when one really bad design shows up. Be advised that the people you have to satisfy will be venue staff, event coordinator, regional committee, UL Safety Advisors, FTA, Head Ref, and possibly LRI. I rarely have seen a motorized cart come in a second season, never a third.
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Unread 26-11-2011, 12:50
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

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Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz View Post
While we see a few motorized carts come in every year, be advised that some venues do not allow them for insurance reasons. Some venues just want to minimize the amount of damage to the venue and some will make a blanket statement about all carts when one really bad design shows up. Be advised that the people you have to satisfy will be venue staff, event coordinator, regional committee, UL Safety Advisors, FTA, Head Ref, and possibly LRI. I rarely have seen a motorized cart come in a second season, never a third.
Really? We've never had any complaints, and last year was the fifth seaon for ours.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 14:11
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

Consider yourself lucky.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 14:13
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

How long did Truck Town's powered cart(s) last, Al? I remember them using those carts in '03 at Houston (where I also remember hearing that they couldn't handle the ramps).
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Unread 27-11-2011, 14:19
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

I haven't seen one in a while. The truck belonged to GM as I remember so it was a sponsor ad more than anything. It is the team built items that seem to have grabbed the most attention lately. I can tell you horror stories of some that I have seen.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 14:34
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1502 View Post
Really? We've never had any complaints, and last year was the fifth seaon for ours.
The last team to bring a motorized cart to FLR was ordered to remove it when they pulled into another team's pit to back into their pit.
As a lead que I have and always will hate motorized carts. I think they are unnecessary and stupid. The time spent on building one could be spent on designing a better robot but teams that build them are like Tim Tebow fans no matter what people say about them they'll build and use them anyways.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 16:20
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

Powered robot carts are an accident waiting to happen.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 16:46
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH View Post
How long did Truck Town's powered cart(s) last, Al? I remember them using those carts in '03 at Houston (where I also remember hearing that they couldn't handle the ramps).
When Truck Town came to Palmetto in 2006, they had it with them. It stayed parked on the periphery of the pit for virtually all of the regional; it was much too large to get through the pits and to the field safely. So it lasted at least that long.
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Unread 27-11-2011, 17:08
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

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Originally Posted by CraigHickman View Post
But anywhoo, my old team looked at doing that... and decided it's already stressful enough to keep the robot battery live, adding another battery to that would make competitions even more tough.
The key would be to incorporate a charging circuit directly into the cart - plug in the cart when you get to your pit and your done! For a bonus, have the cart charge several robot batteries as well, so you always* have a fresh one handy.

*well, until you forget to plug in the cart, that is...
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Unread 27-11-2011, 18:30
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

Creating a Powered Robot Cart would be a great project. However, it should be just that, a project. Having a flashy robot cart (in my mind) would be great for demonstrations and presentation, if it looks nice enough to be driven in front of people. Perhaps even give your audience a chance to drive it. It seems like something that could be a huge hit.

However, its use at competition would be extremely limited. Keeping it powered could be a real pain, especially while making sure your robot is adequately well-off, battery wise. Secondly, most carts are big enough as is. If you have an even bigger cart driving through the pits, it would be hard to make the necessary turns, and probably too easy to bump someone standing by their pits. Getting bumped by a regular cart is a shock enough, imagine this big ol' motorized cart running by you. I wouldn't feel comfortable. Then, as Ed and other said, your cart has to be easily movable by the field crew, as well as needs to be quick to get on and off the field. I just don't see how a motorized cart can fulfill both of those things.

In my opinion, building a powered cart could be a great experience for a team, and great learning experience, and a great project overall. But there place at competitions... Well, I don't see why they need to have a place at competitions. If your robot is too heavy to be moves on a manual cart... you have bigger problems to deal with.

-Hope this helps,
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Unread 28-11-2011, 01:26
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

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Originally Posted by Billfred View Post
When Truck Town came to Palmetto in 2006, they had it with them. It stayed parked on the periphery of the pit for virtually all of the regional; it was much too large to get through the pits and to the field safely. So it lasted at least that long.
Last I saw it was tucked in one of their closets but that was last year.
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Unread 28-11-2011, 13:54
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

@Koko Ed: I believe that was probably the very same one that this thread was started about, 4 years later in 2011.

Its been with us to WAT and GTR consistently for the last 4 competition seasons. There have been minor concerns voiced by the UL/BrucePower Safety team, and by queueing staff, all of which have been addressed successfully (except FLR2011)
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Unread 28-11-2011, 19:04
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Re: Powered Robot Carts



Our team (1899) started using a powered robot cart last year and we have found it very useful, and have not experienced any of the problems others are describing.

We used an old powered wheelchair base, but removed the chair, and instead added a platform for the robot to sit on with room to place tools and other equipment.

It is controlled by the original Wheelchair controller and is mounted near the back of the cart. The controller allows us to change the speed of the cart, and since it is a wheelchair base, it can turn on a dime and is extremely maneuverable.

If there is a team out there looking into making a robot cart, I would suggest giving serious consideration to modifying a motorized wheelchair.

Here is a picture of the robot cart from the front:
http://www.saintsrobotics.com/wp-con...s/img_1509.jpg
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Last edited by VKP : 28-11-2011 at 19:12. Reason: added pictures
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Unread 06-12-2011, 16:18
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Re: Powered Robot Carts

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Originally Posted by VKP View Post


Our team (1899) started using a powered robot cart last year and we have found it very useful, and have not experienced any of the problems others are describing.

We used an old powered wheelchair base, but removed the chair, and instead added a platform for the robot to sit on with room to place tools and other equipment.

It is controlled by the original Wheelchair controller and is mounted near the back of the cart. The controller allows us to change the speed of the cart, and since it is a wheelchair base, it can turn on a dime and is extremely maneuverable.

If there is a team out there looking into making a robot cart, I would suggest giving serious consideration to modifying a motorized wheelchair.

Here is a picture of the robot cart from the front:
http://www.saintsrobotics.com/wp-con...s/img_1509.jpg
Agreed. Ours is a wheelchair base only we have a welded steel frame.
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Unread 07-12-2011, 12:05
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Question Re: Powered Robot Carts

I would think it would make a wee bit more sense if you could disconnect the geardrive from the motor so you could push it on your own and still be complient with use on the field, while flipping a switch to engage the motors for a boost up ramps or lage bumps.
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