967 Off Season Project

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

While I disagree with a few of the detailed decisions in this, I can't question the quality or the work ethic that brought this to existence. It's this kind of detailed and quality work in the offseason that will bring your team to the top level.

I love the bellypan, in the future I would try to add material to the bellypan specifically for electronics; it forces a clean layout and lets you mount electronics with the minimal amount of weight.

I think switching to a 2-stage gearbox, then directly driving one of those wheels would clean up the assembly and increase reliability substantially.

The webb of the diamond pattern could be decreased for maximum weight efficiency, but probably isn't too heavy now.

What is the weight of the two outer "rails"? Seems like a lot of material in there that could be pocketed out, especially with the reinforcement bumpers provide.

Why Omni on the outside, you could easily do traction without sacrificing turning speed or ability.

Overall I like it though, it definitely looks robust and quality. Don't take my questions negatively, I just hold drive trains to a ridiculous standard.

Thanks for the great reply.

I believe the outer rails are 2.25-2.5 lbs each, based on a pretty similar model that I have on my home PC. Agreed, some pocketing on those would be a good next step.

2 stage + direct drive would be smart, no doubt. We liked one stage because it is so light and simple, it puts the CIM motors a little lower, and it puts the weight right in the middle of the robot. We aren't locked into a particular gearbox, though. Two speed is also an option that we will consider. We'll try to drive this thing hard and see if we can break chains with it, and that might influence the direction we go.

There is a good reason for the omni wheels, but let me wait until the students put out their other teaser. You will probably see what we did from looking at that. We stole that wheel arrangment idea from Team Titanium, by the way. Their 2011 bot has a 2 speed 4WD with four unpowered omnis on the corners. It's a cool drive.