Kitbots after Week 1

[Ian Curtis]

We have yet to compete, but with our fully loaded robot (110-120 lbs with bumpers & batteries) we get some bouncing on very tight radius turns with the 1/2 wide 1/2 long square AM14U configuration. Not a big problem, but a minor annoyance. I suspect the critical point is somewhere north of 100 pounds, as we never noticed it until after the bumpers went on.

[hrench]

My team 1108 used the kit frame to win the Crossroads regional. We have stock wheels and stock gear-boxes but with up-ratio gears. We're about 28" square.

We've seen extensive wear on the wheel treads, but they don't seem to grip all that much less. Weighing 95 lbs, we're still able to push most robots, especially sideways. Across the front, we have an exposed section of the extrusion where we took a significant hit and bent it in about two inches. We bashed it back out and bolted a piece of steel bar-stock below the angle and it was okay through the finals.

With a slightly light robot, four CIMS and up-ratio gears, we've measured 110 lbs of pulling force and about 12 ft/sec. Great acceleration too. I think these numbers make you competitive in most arenas. We'll see how that works out for the Championships.

I think its' easier to build a robot on than the c-frame was, but on the downside, it takes away one more area to be creative from the kids. But we're a small team and saving the resources for the rest of the design was beneficial to us. It's also a change mounting bumpers to.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by IKE

I was LRI at Southfield this weekend and saw a lot of kit-bot and improved kit-bots that faired very well. The architecture of the kit-bot was basically state of the art chassis for 2006-2008 if you just add in a set of shifters. A lot of great robots played really well with significantly less.

Structural bellypans are a great add on. Probably even above shifters. While it doesn't need to be made out of 1/4" steel, a good belly pan attached with rigid connection (not zip ties). If you have ever built a cheap set of shelves, the carboard panel for the back is more important than looks. It adds a ton to the structural rigidity of the shelves.

Ike, what you consider state-of-the-art right now?

[Tem1514 Mentor]

The kitbot with a nicely mounted set of bumpers will take and yes give hits as it comes out of the box.

Add good solid belly pans is the best place to start. We used 1/4 inch plywood.

But don't do what one of drivers did was to lose control in the school hallway and crash at full speed into a brick wall without the bumpers installed. That took a hour of body work to get the bent frame straighten out.

[AustinH]

Figured I would give an update...

We are all very, very pleased with the resiliency of a properly reinforced AM14U kit chassis. Between PNW Glacier Peak and PNW Mount Vernon, we took hits strong enough to shear at least three 5/16 bolts holding our upper mechanisms onto our frame. The frame is still in great condition. Kudos to the designers for coming up with the kitbot design.

[cglrcng]

Originally Posted by Tem1514 Mentor

The kitbot with a nicely mounted set of bumpers will take and yes give hits as it comes out of the box.

Add good solid belly pans is the best place to start. We used 1/4 inch plywood.

But don't do what one of drivers did was to lose control in the school hallway and crash at full speed into a brick wall without the bumpers installed. That took a hour of body work to get the bent frame straighten out.

So our 3/4" plywood belly pan, and the 1/2" Alum. bar stock (real bumpers beneath bumpers), actually we needed to extend the frame a half inch in front to get a chain sprocket for the collector just inside the frame perimeter on 1 end, and something much stronger on the other to mount the launching catapult upright to, so we spanned the inside frame rails w/ 1/2" stock there, and built a tank to protect the other tanks inside, (add a blade and eyes on the front, instead of tusks....(or is that the rear?)....it would remind you of lil' Blue "Dozer"), across both front and rear of the kit bot frame should fare OK this weekend? (Who said it should be a really low center of gravity game this year anyway? We did!)

It made us switch from chain and sprocket, to belt and pully for the very 1st time ever. Hope it was the right move.

[Tungrus]

At Southfield - MI week 1 competition kitbots did well, beyond our expectation. At one point we wished we had opted for kitbot, it would have saved lot of our time.

[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by Tungrus

At Southfield - MI week 1 competition kitbots did well, beyond our expectation. At one point we wished we had opted for kitbot, it would have saved lot of our time.

No shame in the kit box at all as a starting point.
STARTING POINT.
Have fun with it augment it to play the way you want modify it to drive the way you want, the reason why its sold is because its viable. Flat field, no obstacles, driving isn't all about machine there is skill involved. I've seen robots that are well equipped have drivers that obviously had no idea how to put up with mecanum robots.

[safiq10]

Team 2950 played a really strong defense and even defended two bots at once from getting the ball. Defense was really nice with the AM14U. We run VEX DT wheels with a wide base frame. With our own electronics board.