pic: Madtown Robotics Future Frame Proto 1

[R.C.]

The Frame: It is two 4x4 1/8" 6061 Aluminum tubing CNC out for the lettering and pattern. Solidworks says it weighs about 25 pounds with the 4 gearboxes, 4 cims, 4 4x2 wheels and everything else minus the battery. I put it through a three hundred force test and it bends in the middle by a few inches and the front wants to really cave in. The sheet of aluminum can stand about 110-120 pounds of force without really caving in. The back is sheet of carbon fiber and it bolted in. The reason for this is the weight saving and the high impact strength. The reason for this frame is because it's twenty pounds lighter with more stuff added on. Quick and easy assembly.

For the first question: Currently it is held together with a 1/8 CNC bottom sheet of 7075 aluminum. Depending on what we go with: forklift, 4 bar arm or telescopic arm. We will either put two 1x1 aluminum tubing across to support it or put a sheet in the front.

Question 2: The reason for all the machining is that we have started a summer program. Our Vp got a brand new 60,000 dollar CNC Machine. Also our engineers were leaning toward a new frame. Our two stage frame was industructable but really heavy and that affected the building of our hand.

Question 3: Yes were putting omni's in the front, but i am having a real hard time making them. Does anyone have a link or the file for a 4 inch double set omni wheels? Thanks in advance. No they're not bosh drill motor gearboxes, i wish they were. But they are the dewalt drill gearboxes, i forgot to put the color in. We also have access to a waterjet cutter now.

Question 4: Our new cart is designed to be able to work under the robot. We prefer to work under and this year at nationals we managed to pull the supershifters about 10 times. The only way to pull them was to go under. The supershifters were great but the cims and the roll pin kept giving us trouble in between rounds. This setup is better because there are square cut outs in the bottom that allows easy access for the wheels and chain.

Question 5: No the center wheel is not going to be dropped. We talked to the Kil-a-Bytes, 1024 and few other teams that used omni's in the front and did not drop the center wheels and had way better turning. Our turning sucked this year but it helped our robots center of gravity out by a lot because it had that rocker affect.

Thanks Cd for the support and continue giving 1323 ideas to improve this frame.