Got Weight?

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

Use a smaller font in the code.

C'mon now, thats just silly.

Everyone knows the weight of code is really influenced by how many non working sections you have commented out!

[InnocentBlond]

Originally Posted by Henry_222

Holes help. I think in the past 3 days my team has taken 6-7 pounds off of our robot. Get a couple drills ready, they do heat up when run for a long time.

Robot liposuction

Also try trimming bolts that are at unnecessary lengths, it adds up

[Peter Matteson]

Remove three strands from every wire.

But seriously copper is heavy shorten any excess wire runs and service loops.

Also swissing your robot isn't really good for that much weight. You can only get a couple pounds usually.

Thinner lexan and narrower diameter pneumatics are also good tricks if you can.

[PVCMike]

Originally Posted by Dzdconfusd

Also swissing your robot isn't really good for that much weight. You can only get a couple pounds usually.

Thinner lexan and narrower diameter pneumatics are also good tricks if you can.

You'd be surprised with the speed holes. Last year we removed almost 20 pounds from ours, granted we had an 18' telescoping boom made of 1/8 aluminum box tubing, but still, it adds up, every little bit counts. And the thinner lexan is a good point, thinner everything will work really, we cut alot of weight a few years ago by going down 1 size in all the PVC tubing we used.

Also, smaller/less motors if you can, they weigh a bit.

[Tomasz Bania]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'll put in the boilerplate: don't be stupid with the swiss cheesing. Poking a bunch of holes in your hopper that was built around the requirement of having a perfectly smooth bottom may come back to bite you in your bottom.

Just be smart about where you poke holes, and you'll be good.

I'll post a picture soon of our robot, and you will see that the back of our robot (specifically the ball catcher, not the hopper) literally looks like a cheese grater!

[dubious elise]

I was told that we're calling in the Orkin Man to debug our code for us - that should take a good deal of weight out.

You'd be surprised what you can put holes in that willl actually benefit your robot's functionality. I can't comment on speed effects really, but in terms of moving balls around...

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by PVCMike

made of 1/8 aluminum box tubing,

There's your problem right there. We only got .2 lbs when we lightened out arm last year, however ours was only 13 feet.

[JVN]

You could replace heavy steel sprockets with lightweight aluminum ones.
That might save a few pounds.

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Ha.

But getting back to the speed holes, I'll put in the boilerplate: don't be stupid with the swiss cheesing. Poking a bunch of holes in your hopper that was built around the requirement of having a perfectly smooth bottom may come back to bite you in your bottom.

Just be smart about where you poke holes, and you'll be good.

lol...

holes work no matter where you put them.. As long as it isnt in a major compenent ...lol

-Pavan

[chinckley]

We weighed in this morning at the local fruit packing plant. It was 114 lbs. Our robot is having surgery as we speak. 114 was too much as we still have things like shields and bracing to install, battery covers, and part of the hopper. Took off 5 lbs by removing a noncritical part and replacing it with something lighter. WOWOWOW. Diet time.

Last years robot was 4 ounces under the 120 limit.

Carolyn Hinckley

[Ianworld]

Last year I ordered aluminum nuts and bolts for my team. Bolts, nuts and washers are made of steel which is much heavier than aluminum(about 5x as much). Most bolts and nuts also don't take even close to the load necessary to break or bend them. We didn't build our robot with them, but I took an inventory of the major bolt sizes we used and brought boxes of aluminum replacements to the competitions. Whenever we needed to change a part we optimized it with aluminum parts.

I've also heard of team using plastic hardware which is 1/3 the weight of aluminum and I guess 1/15th the weight of steel.

[Zach Purser]

Compressor:
Last year we made a backpack with a compressor and a battery so we could fill the tanks right before each match. It saved us a few pounds.

Structure:
Re-evaluate your structural design. Chances are you have over-engineered some parts. Can they be replaced with thinner materials?

Durable vs. disposable:
Can you replace something that is very durable with something that will last you through a match and can then be replaced? Our team uses 1/16" polycarbonate for shielding our robot. Some pieces survive an entire regional unscathed, other pieces need to be replaced every couple rounds. We could have used thicker polycarb and spent less time replacing stuff, but we get a lot more functionality by having a few extra pounds to work with. Of course, if you go the disposable route, be sure it's easy to replace and you have lots of spares.

[hallk]

While our robot is made of holes, it is important to remember that you need about 40 1" holes in 1/4" Al to cut out a pound of weight.
So get drilling.

[Daru]

Get on your hands and knees with a file.

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

Advice to stay underweight:

Use ligher materials whenever possible, but use metal for things that have to be more robust, such as turrets, drive, and moving parts.
Use PVC for nonmoving parts, such as bins.
Weigh the parts of your robot, and your robot at each substage of building.
Don't use pneumatics.
Budget your weight and keep to your weight budget.
Remember, design each part with weight in mind. A well-designed, well-built robot should not have to deal with a weight problem.

Advice to get underweight if overwieght:

Make Swiss cheese (something that's already been said way too much)
Don't use more motors than you need.
Keep your frame simple.
Look for lighter alternatives to what you have. This invovles doing a bunch of research.
Remove unnecessary parts