Coolest 'Bot Carts

[AJCaliciuri]

Hello from FIRST Team 1305 in Canada,
In 2011, Our Past Captain Alex Wilcox was fed up with the traditional cart and H-frame our team had used for many years, so, he built us a new custom cart. Our cart is about five feet long by two/three feet wide. It's painted Blue (our team's color) with the 1305 decals in white. The detachable handle (for travel and storage) also houses the controls for the custom electronics inside, including a warning light system (8 Yellow LED lights) that can set to flash intermittently or stay solid, a warning horn that can be triggered manually or can be set to "honk" in a similar fashion to a truck backing up, as well as a detachable strobe light (on a 4-foot pole) that can be attached to the front right-hand side and can be set to flash intermittently. This is all powered by a standard FRC battery (usually one that is older or isn't used for the competition bot) which in turn is hooked up to a battery charger that can be plugged though a wall socket. The power system is controlled though a box on the front to set it to ON, OFF, or CHARGE. The platform the robot system features to Two by Fours that are adjustable for the robot to sit on. The platform itself can be removed to reveal enough space to stack three rows of orbis bins (up to three high) on the cart for load-in and pack up. The space underneath this raised, detachable platform is hallow, allowing for the storage of bumpers. Finally, the shelving in between the pneumatic tire drive-train can hold up to three fully charged batteries each, with one per side. We have joked that we want to install transmissions on the drive train and completely automate the driving of the cart, but its always in the back of our minds.