2012 drivetrain

[Boe]

So i was wondering what drive team did everyone's team use? And if you had to redo this year would you use the same drive train again?

[lorem3k]

We used 4-wheel tank drive from KOP parts this year, as we always do. If I could re-do this year, I'd probably go with an 8-wheel drop center system (something like a modified Kitbot on Steroids) to help with the turning. Our handling on carpet was so bad that we covered the treads on the wheels with duct tape.

[Gray Adams]

I would want smaller wheels and a better method of getting over the bump. It was not that easy to get over with our 8wd 6" wheels. We sometimes got stuck and had to back up and go forward again to get over. Watching some robots just bounce and glide over was really cool (1114 comes to mind).

[nikeairmancurry]

I feel our 8 wheel drive train worked really well. With being a long bot, being able to only need 6 wheels on to triple balance worked great. Never had issues with going over the bump.

We had a wide, four wheel drive robot. It worked really well, and did what it was designed to do perfectly. Looking back, having a way to go over the bump would have saved us a lot of time messing with the bridge, but it would have been kinda hard to implement in our design, since 90% of our robot base was wide open for balls to come in.

[ablatner]

We had a pretty standard 6WD. Dropped center, the high-traction tread, etc. However, over the summer, we'll be making an 8WD and seeing how it compares.

[PAR_WIG1350]

Wide 4WD, 4CIM, 23.35:1 reduction with 12-inch pneumatics (the same type used on the team's first robot (2004). It was great at going over the bump and mechanically one of the most solid and reliable drivetrains I have worked with. For me, there is no reason to consider doing it differently if I were to do it again.

[dudefise]

We had a wide-bot 4wd with articulating, non-powered wheels in the center. Normally, they remained off the ground, but were attached to the outer wheels in such a way that on the bump they would raise up, contacting the surface of the bump. The outer (drive) wheels would lower down to remain on the ground on bot sides of the bump.
It was powered by 4 CIMs in SuperShifter gearboxes. The outer wheels were 8in aluminum with roughtop and wedgetop tread, and the inner wheels were this years' KOP 4in traction wheels.

[Boe]

Kind of forgot to say this at the beggining but my team had a wide driving ten wheel tank drive with four inch plaction wheels with blue nitrile trad from mcmaster. The center six were dropped .125". If we were to replay this year i would stick with this it gave us lots of traction and we could hang multiple wheels off the bridge if needed

[Alex.q]

We used 6wd long orientation, with 8" pneumatics from AM, and the Super Shifter. In hindsight, The pneumatic wheels had nice traction, but were a pain because their sizes varied quite a bit. I would have preferred colsons from what I have heard of them. We had originally planned to go over the bump, but ended up not being able to due to geometry, I wish we had gone with smaller and more wheels to enable this. Also, our Supershifters had the wrong ratio for 8" wheels, so the high speed was too fast for our drivers and was thus never used, leaving us with wasted weight and a tad slow. I would have switched the gear ratios to slow everything down a couple fps or switched to a lighter and slightly faster 1-speed transmission.

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

I would want smaller wheels and a better method of getting over the bump. It was not that easy to get over with our 8wd 6" wheels. We sometimes got stuck and had to back up and go forward again to get over. Watching some robots just bounce and glide over was really cool (1114 comes to mind).

Did they have an additional mechanism to aid going over the bump? I know 111 tipped up the front of their robot to do this, but I never saw exactly how this was done.

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Alex.q

We used 6wd long orientation, with 8" pneumatics from AM, and the Super Shifter. In hindsight, The pneumatic wheels had nice traction, but were a pain because their sizes varied quite a bit. I would have preferred colsons from what I have heard of them. We had originally planned to go over the bump, but ended up not being able to due to geometry, I wish we had gone with smaller and more wheels to enable this. Also, our Supershifters had the wrong ratio for 8" wheels, so the high speed was too fast for our drivers and was thus never used, leaving us with wasted weight and a tad slow. I would have switched the gear ratios to slow everything down a couple fps or switched to a lighter and slightly faster 1-speed transmission.



Did they have an additional mechanism to aid going over the bump? I know 111 tipped up the front of their robot to do this, but I never saw exactly how this was done.

I spent about 5 full minutes looking at their robot, and I now realize I didn't ask about the drivetrain. How did I not do that?!

I can't tell if they have something to lifts their robot or if their sheetmetal frame is just shaped to pop them up and over. 971 and 254 have a little drop down wheel that launches them over, but I can't remember what 1114 does. Something passive would definitely be nicer.

[Boe]

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

I spent about 5 full minutes looking at their robot, and I now realize I didn't ask about the drivetrain. How did I not do that?!

I can't tell if they have something to lifts their robot or if their sheetmetal frame is just shaped to pop them up and over. 971 and 254 have a little drop down wheel that launches them over, but I can't remember what 1114 does. Something passive would definitely be nicer.

when i saw 111 at North Star it looked like they lifted there front end allowing them to get there wheels on the bump and then go over smoothly.

[Dr Theta]

We used a 6WD drop center wide with Andymarks pneumatic wheels. We designed our drivetrain to have sufficient ground clearance to clear the bump, which we did with ease. The only time we had trouble was when our driver decided to try simultaneously running over 4 balls and crossing the bump .

[JosephC]

8 wheel tank with a center drop. The only thing I'd change would be adding a ski of some kind to help us go over the bump. We only made it over the bump once our twice in practice and when we did we would spend the next hour bending our bridge manipulators back into their proper position.

[jwfoss]

8WD, 5" Colson Performas, drop center, "long" configuration (34")

Going with an 8WD with smaller wheels and drop down skids/wheels to go over the barrier would have been a better choice for crossing, otherwise it performed well.