Our Robot weight woes.. to rebuild or not to rebuild

[wireties]

Hmmm - it does not look crazy heavy. Are you sure your scale is accurate?

Are those plates on top solid material? Do they need to be?

Are the vertical support pieces solid? Will lighter extrusion work?

What are the red things in the middle?

Is there any steel on the robot? Can you substitute aluminum of similar dimensions?

[viperred396]

Originally Posted by wireties

Hmmm - it does not look crazy heavy. Are you sure your scale is accurate?
We took it to the local PetsMart scale so its fairly accurate

Are those plates on top solid material? Do they need to be?
Yes solid 1/8 Aluminum, maybe not

Are the vertical support pieces solid? Will lighter extrusion work?
No they are 1x2 Aluminum extrusions, possibly switch to 1x1

What are the red things in the middle?
they are 8in concrete cardboard tubes used to hold the balls once they are captured

Is there any steel on the robot? Can you substitute aluminum of similar dimensions?

nope, all Aluminum, the only steel is the 2 3/8in rods on the shooter

[Mk.32]

How thick is the metal you are using? 1/16th inch is often plenty and half the weight of 1/8. Also solid plates are usually over kill, we saved like nearly 2 lbs by pocketing out a a 17inch circle of alum.

You could swap to 6inch wheels [loose some bump abilities...] and save some weight off those pneumatic tires.

And as said above check to see if your scales are correct, weigh a person who knows there weight[safety first though] to see if it is off.

This late in the game rebuilding large portions of your robot is probably to late... best try finding parts you can swap or take off. Large pieces of metal are a good place to start. Figure out what needs strength and what doesn't. And don't be afraid to loose some functionality. Lesser under weight robot is always better than a over weight robot of any caliber.