Tell me more about the regolith coating.

[Michael Hill]

As far as I can tell, it's kind of a gel coating, but can it be smeared? Smudged? From my research, regolith is a powder.

[Browzilla]

Regolith is the name FIRST gave it.

6.2.1
"The majority of the CRATER
is covered by a 24-foot by 50-foot surface known as the “REGOLITH.” The REGOLITH is made of
“Glasliner FRPtm” gel-coated, fiberglass-reinforced, polymer material."

[Michael Hill]

that doesn't really help much, of course I read that. I would like to know more about it.

[dtengineering]

Regolith IS a powder... but the slippery part of the playing field isn't actually regolith... it is just called that in keeping with the lunacy theme (you'll note we aren't playing in crater, or moving actual moon rocks about either). The actual material is described in the manual as Glasliner FRP, which is currently being discussed in a few other threads here on CD.

Jason

[Electricia 1599]

The coating on the playing field is a type of gel coated, fiberglass reinforced, polymer material. I'm pretty sure its the same stuff ice skaters use when they don't have ice to skate on if that helps.

[qwertyuiop[]\]

your not actually playing on real Regolith. regolith is what is found on the moon. they are just calling the smooth surface that. heres an analogy:
Crater:Field::Regolith:smooth material(glasliner whatever its called)

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Electricia 1599

The coating on the playing field is a type of gel coated, fiberglass reinforced, polymer material. I'm pretty sure its the same stuff ice skaters use when they don't have ice to skate on if that helps.

I hope is it not synthetic ice. They run for more than $12 a square foot. I hope it's the cheap plastic siding that's ~$30 for a 4' x 8' sheet.

[StevenB]

Originally Posted by Electricia 1599

The coating on the playing field is a type of gel coated, fiberglass reinforced, polymer material. I'm pretty sure its the same stuff ice skaters use when they don't have ice to skate on if that helps.

Don't get thrown off by the term "gel-coated". There isn't gooey gel on it at all; the fiberglass sheet is just coated in an additional layer of plastic.
Product info
I don't think ice skaters use this at all. It's intended as wall and ceiling paneling, particularly in bathrooms.

[shaasar]

"Regolith" is a term used to denote a covering of dirt over solid rock, it is essentially what we call "soil." So regolith is what we call soil on another planet, its just we don't call it "regolith" here on Earth. The regolith itself is a type of plastic sheeting sold in I believe 4'x8' segments, if you want to try it out, I think they sell it at Home Depot.

[R.C.]

Besides home depot, is there anywhere they can sell it for sure.

[Cyberphil]

Can someone please post a video of just how slippery this stuff is. Not for me, necessarily, but for other teams and people. Maybe use another robot of yours, if you haven't already destroyed it. And if you can, use the Rover Wheels. That would be good for a lot of people. Thanks!

[ShadowNinja]

I can not post a video however it is a hard concept to imagine..we have regolith in one of our batroom walls...we moved the wheel across it and it seems the calculated friction the predicted is incorrect..with 130lb robots traveling at 10 mph with the coefficint of friction at .0021..it means u will drift 5-12 ft with a drastic turn...goodluck to anyone who can work around this issue...it is realy slippery...please try to practice this urself and then think of ideas...

[Brdn666]

The regolith/field is the stuff used in shower walls. The plastic slightly textured I think. The rover wheels have less traction than the field itself. This was done most likely for safety and it's cheaper. Yes the field is slippery. Last year when our robot would be going at top speed and turned sharply, we'd slip. We had two wide rubber drive wheels are 2 cheap-o in line casters.

[sbrumund]

The Gel Coating reffered to is not a liquid or paste but a thin hard layer of plastic that is placed on the surface of fiberglass composit parts to improve the appearence.

When a fiberglass canoe is made a thin gel, an appearanece coat of colored resin, is put on the mold first followed by layers of glass and resin. This gives the outside of the canoe its nice appearance. On the inside you can see the cloth or fibers used to give it strength. The gel coat is usually hard and brittle and breaks easily without the fiber backing.

[Laaba 80]

Originally Posted by Cyberphil

Can someone please post a video of just how slippery this stuff is. Not for me, necessarily, but for other teams and people. Maybe use another robot of yours, if you haven't already destroyed it. And if you can, use the Rover Wheels. That would be good for a lot of people. Thanks!

The field itself is not that slippery. What makes it slippery is the combination of the field and the wheels. They cant make the field to slippery because imagine what it would be like for Pilots carrying the robot on and off the field. We'd be slipping and falling constantly.

Joey