The Chassis Project.

[Matt Reiland]

At first, thinking about a premade chassis, I might think that you would see a few hundred of the exact same robot.

But then I think to myself, maybe for some rookie teams, that wouldn't be so bad. If it was your first or second year, I would hate to come out and have an immobile robot for every match while you see everyone else out there screaming around the field. It would go a long way to getting every team excited about the robot aspect if they could start out in the first few weeks with a mobile robot that has at least some amount of robustness to it.

My Suggestion to new teams. Us the 80/20 or Bosch rail, we used it for the past few years and it proves extremely easy to put together and take apart, it can be easily built by students, it can be painted. and it is strong. The main disadvantages are weight and cost.

What would be the next level after this? Prototype with the 80/20 and then when you have everything the way you want it, have the chassis remade out of aluminum tube welded together. That saves the weight and you have a bunch of 80/20 for next year. (Looked like 111 did this with their prototype that I saw at Buckeye) As for drive-train, we have done it all, 2WD,4WD, Swerve & Tank. I think swerve is out for a rookie team, and tank probably should be to because of cost so that leaves 4WD with chain drive between the axles to be the starting point for most teams. An 80/20 rail chassis with the First motor mounts to 4WD would be an awesome starting point for teams that haven't got the resources for something really crazy, it would at the minimum keep them in the game.

my.02