Robot Cart

[bcampbell]

We have a custom cart we built ourselves. Here is a picture of our cart. If you look closely there are 4 orange blocks that the robot sits on. Those blocks are adjustable and can move along the entire top rail of the cart via a standard bolt pattern. This allows us to change the cart to carry the current years robot without any modifications. 8 bolts later you can change it to fit any robot. We have roughtop on top of the blocks to get a good grip on our drive rails and to keep the robot in position. We have casters on the bottom of the cart that are similar to a grocery cart with 2 stationary and two rotating wheels that allow for easy movement. The back push bar lifts up to allow full access around the robot. When we are working on the robot in the pit the bar is removed so it is not in the way. The bottom shelf allows for storage of the control board, batteries and anything else we need.

[Coach Seb]

Anyone ever used one of these?

We are looking at buying something like that and modify to add tools/battery storage.

Love the jack capability and flat surface to allow mounting specific frame based on robot design....

[Peyton Yeung]

Originally Posted by Coach Seb

Anyone ever used one of these?

We are looking at buying something like that and modify to add tools/battery storage.

Love the jack capability and flat surface to allow mounting specific frame based on robot design....

Think you forgot the link/picture.

[Coach Seb]

sure did....

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...1992_200631992

[346CADmen]

Originally Posted by Coach Seb

Anyone ever used one of these?

We are looking at buying something like that and modify to add tools/battery storage.

Love the jack capability and flat surface to allow mounting specific frame based on robot design....

I like what you like about this cart. What I don't care for are the width (tight thru a door) and weight.

Also, I would remove the handle and make one that pivots or is removable.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by 346CADmen

I like what you like about this cart. What I don't care for are the width (tight thru a door) and weight.

Also, I would remove the handle and make one that pivots or is removable.

It's under 18" wide, not sure you are going to get anything narrower than that.

We considered having a lift on our cart and we couldn't justify the cost, weight, or space for often we saw it being useful.

[jakey99]

We have two carts. 1 is for our actual competition. It is large and has plenty of storage for loading and unloading from competition, with the robot and bumpers. We also have another one for scrimmages and outreach events. It is just large enough for the robot to sit on it and not touch the ground.

[346CADmen]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

It's under 18" wide, not sure you are going to get anything narrower than that.
.

You correct I mistook what I read on width. Weight is still an issue. We had one like this so I recall those things. Weight here comes from cylinder,able to lift 500 lbs.

However this may be needed this year as we may be using steam power.

[GeeTwo]

The needs for the robot cart change every year (not as much as the robot, but they change). The thing we purchased as a robot cart in our rookie year (ComboCart) never seems to be quite the right thing. On the other hand, a simple garden cart similar to this* has been the base of our cart the last four years; we usually spend more time figuring out what the cart needs than in the [re]build. There are so many carts and such available locally between home centers, garden stores, and such that can be tweaked into what we need that it is unlikely we would order something that needs to be shipped.

* - hey, they're available in green now!

[colbyk1]

My team uses a old gurney from an ambulance its great because we adjust the wood blocks that sit on top of the gurney each year to fit the robot.... I dont really have great photos of it but.... http://pobots.wixsite.com/team353/ph...aItem-iikighoe