Rethinking the Low bar

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by themccannman

The only thing that determines when an object tips over is when it's COM passes outside of it's footprint projected in the direction of gravity (downward).

That's only true in the static case. It's possible to save a situation that would statically be a tip by accelerating or decelerating, which is the equivalent of pushing the CoM one way or another. You can also cause a tip in the same fashion. A heavier robot with more rotational inertia is going to tip less than a lighter one because your motors stay there same. I guarantee you I could build a chassis that flips due to its own wheel force, and fix it by adding weight without changing CoM.