Robot Speeds - Opinions sought

[archiver]

Posted by Dodd Stacy.

Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.

Posted on 2/8/2000 8:45 AM MST


In Reply to: Leave it to Lebanon posted by Joe Johnson on 2/7/2000 5:04 PM MST:




: As to the over-running cluthes, do they work in reverse as well? What happens to your machine if you try to back up? I would think that the slower motors may make you kind of creepy in reverse.

: Am I missing something?

: Joe J.

As usual, Dr. Joe misses nothing, sees right through the smoke screen. I guess it was the clutches that tipped you off. OK, I'll come clean - it's actually a retrohyperdrive for achieving warp speeds in reverse. We rewound the low speed (Globe) motors with HTS wire and immerse them in liquid nitrogen. Then when the high speed main (drill) motors overdrive the Globes in reverse, through those pesky clutches, the Globes become superconducting generators. We couple the Globe output back to the drill inputs through multiple #6 wire direct shunts, and the whole thing just goes faster and faster till our watches slow down and everybody starts talking slow with real deep voices. One of the kids dreamed it up after my lecture about perpetual motion machines.

Actually, this year we're 'just' trying for a modest offensive competance, something we haven't given enough attention in past years, in our shameless efforts to entertain. I admire every team that shows up with a rolling robot, and I really respect the teams and machines that consistently and reliably play the game well and quickly and put the numbers on the board. And then, one (or two, or three) of them are the champs. Sounds so simple. Is so hard.

Good luck, everybody.

Dodd