Cart Is Pit?

[geeknerd99]

Edit: Peter beat me to it. He needs to seriously get IM.

Originally Posted by Cory

Yup. See <R101> The compressor may be mounted on the ROBOT, or it may be left off the ROBOT and used
to pre-charge compressed air in the storage tanks prior to bringing the ROBOT onto the
playing field. Off-board compressors must be controlled and powered by the ROBOT. The
only difference between an on- and off-board compressor is that the off-board compressor is
physically removed from the ROBOT. Note: the intent of this rule is to permit teams to take
advantage of the weight savings associated with keeping the compressor off-board. But
using the compressor off-board of the ROBOT does NOT permit non-compliance with any
other applicable rules.

Peter, what about having two compressors? The KOP one for charging the robot, and the big compressor for the big tank? Having air for cleaning and whatnot is still pretty handy.

[vivek16]

@geeknerd99

I think that those little canisters of compressed air are really handy for getting dust off and cleaning. Also you can use them to cool down things by holding them upside down(engines and such.) Im not sure how good that is for the engines but it might help.

-vivek

[geeknerd99]

Originally Posted by vivek16

@geeknerd99

I think that those little canisters of compressed air are really handy for getting dust off and cleaning. Also you can use them to cool down things by holding them upside down(engines and such.) Im not sure how good that is for the engines but it might help.

-vivek

What about air powered goodness? Like drills? And just the general bling factor of having air onboard cart?

And it's not just compressed air in those cans. They actually make me pretty woozy if I spray too much in an area that pretty much isn't outside.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by geeknerd99

What about air powered goodness? Like drills? And just the general bling factor of having air onboard cart?

And it's not just compressed air in those cans. They actually make me pretty woozy if I spray too much in an area that pretty much isn't outside.

Compressed air is good for blowing chips and junk out of the robot.

However, those little pancake air compressors (which are just about the only thing small enough that you could fit into a cart) will not run any air tools for more than a couple seconds before they lose so much pressure as to basically be ineffective.

[T3_1565]

I have always wondered about air tanks and what not... I have also wondered about fog machines... are you allowed fog machines?? (obviously not for practical use) but compressed air would be wonderful to clean off work space at the end of the day (or during the day for that matter)

[eshteyn]

I JUST HAD A BRAIN FART!!!!! who saw the mythbusters episode with the hovercrafts? you think 6 leaf blowers would lift 600 pounds?

[fimmel]

Originally Posted by eshteyn

I JUST HAD A BRAIN FART!!!!! who saw the mythbusters episode with the hovercrafts? you think 6 leaf blowers would lift 600 pounds?

man that is a good idea lol....build one like adam's lilypad it would be quite stable lol

[EricH]

Originally Posted by eshteyn

I JUST HAD A BRAIN FART!!!!! who saw the mythbusters episode with the hovercrafts? you think 6 leaf blowers would lift 600 pounds?

Didn't see that, but I saw team 1006's 2006 robot moving device: 1 leaf blower was enough to lift their robot at full weight. Need I say more? (Though you would have the directing problem, but that's what the other drive team members are for.)

Also, remember to put space for the operator interface. The OI is (can be) a very awkward piece of equipment, if it's long or in multiple pieces. It's easier to put it on the cart if possible.

[MrHance]

"I had design this system to have the robot batteries being charged on the cart at all times even when your not near a Ac power source. To go along with that it provides a AC and DC lines for charging laptops and running some electrical tools depending on cart battery size and inverter being used."

I reference to the above information, be careful about doing this as we tried to do the same thing on a carrier that we built on year and we can to find out that the setup burned up three battery chargers running thru a AC to DC converter because the wave signal was different that the wave from the AC outlet. Just a thought from the past.

[BlackShadowFox]

MrHance You have my Diagram slightly mistaken When it said "AC input" it meant only from a wall outlet. So the Three batteries would only charge from AC if it was present But when AC is not present then 3 relay would trip. One in the inverter so that the DC would be converter to AC and the two DC relays that would switch the batteries charging from the AC to DC converters to a DC to DC converter providing a nearly no energy loss system.

If you talking about inverters and their waves i have heard of these two "pure" and "synthetic" i currently own 3 (2 pure 1000 watt inverters, and one 400 synthetic). I plan to use the one of the pure ones since my DAD is a electrical engineer who told me too and for these parts came out of an ambulance so i hope they would be up to standards.

inverters companies
(pure)
Vanner (+ using this one)
Tripplite
(synthetic)
Cobra

[AndyB]

We did something like this and used it these past two years. Our cart had oversized pneumatic tires, places to charge 4 batteries, and a series of compartments for storing tools, cables, etc...

By no means did it replace the pit, but it was nice for transporting a compressor for charging our accumlators, as well as tether cables, programming cables, and of course a few zipties.

I don't know that I would recommend the chargers. I don't know if we ever used that capability once after the initial regional. Usually we just have our battery farm nested underneath our table in the pit so it's not that big of a deal.

The other hassle with using a multifunctional cart is that it is going to be much higher off the ground in most circumstances, due to the need for pnuematic tires so tools aren't flying around. We have had troubles in the past with 5' robots and getting them underneath doors.

We ended up having two carts this year. We used our multifunctional at Wisconsin and then we made a VERY simple cart using the kitbot frame and a few casters which we used at Toronto, Atlanta, and IRI. The simple cart was preferred for its easy maneuverability and overall, it was just easier to transport and ship with the robot.

I can see the practicality in building a pit-cart, but in my opinion as long as you're organized and plan ahead, it isn't really much of a benifit. It was nice at times to have the compressor or tether cables right there at times, but like I said, if you plan ahead, you won't really need it.

[vivek16]

@T3_1565

fog machines make fog from water. water plus electronics are bad.

-vivek

[T3_1565]

Originally Posted by vivek16

@T3_1565

fog machines make fog from water. water plus electronics are bad.

-vivek

True enough... but does it say anything about not having them??? cause our team has a plan for one,(it will be controlled, obviously, for the safety of other bots and our own).

Thanks for that by the way. I forgot about electronics lmao. I will have a chat with the designers about it.

[whytheheckme]

Regarding all of this compressor hub-bub

The intent of the rule is so that teams don't fill tanks onboard the robot without having the nasson shutoff valve controlling the compressor. This makes total sense, even if the compressor is not onboard the robot.

Using a compressor for non-robot uses (such as blowing out dust and such) should be absolutley no problem, so long as that compressor isn't used to pump up tanks onboard the robot.

A good example of this is the duct tape rule. Just because you can't use duct tape on the robot, doesnt mean you can't use it on the cart.

My 2 cents,
Jacob

[EricH]

Originally Posted by whytheheckme

Regarding all of this compressor hub-bub

The intent of the rule is so that teams don't fill tanks onboard the robot without having the nasson shutoff valve controlling the compressor. This makes total sense, even if the compressor is not onboard the robot.

Using a compressor for non-robot uses (such as blowing out dust and such) should be absolutley no problem, so long as that compressor isn't used to pump up tanks onboard the robot.

And nothing says that you can't have the robot's compressor on the cart, provided that you hook it into the system properly (legally) to fill the tanks between matches. Why have two when you can have one?