pic: 148 Follower Wheel Assembly

[Brandon Martus]

loading photo ...

[Jonathan Norris]

Totally unnecessarily awesome...

[Ice Berg]

How is this going to measure ground speed if it can't touch the ground?

[Joe G.]

It can.

The GDC has ruled that similar devices do not count as "traction devices" in the Q and A.

[NoahTheBoa]

It was asked in the Q&A and they said that if it does not provide traction than it can touch the ground. The actual rule says that the rover wheels are the only thing that can provide traction, not the only thing that can touch the ground.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Ice Berg

How is this going to measure ground speed if it can't touch the ground?

I'm no mechanical engineer (no, really, I'm not) but I'm assuming this will either touch the KOP wheels or somehow be attached along the route of the chains, without touching the ground.

[NoahTheBoa]

Here is a relevant Q&A on the subject

Question:
Can any part of your robot...other than the FRC supplied wheels...make contact with the playing surface if their intention is not to provide traction to propel or stop the robot?

GDC:
Yes.

http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=10919

[Joe Ross]

We were planning to do the same thing, but with all vex components, including the new encoders. Hadn't gotten to it yet.

[Karthik]

Fabulous use of VEX parts in a very elegant package. I think we'll be seeing a lot of similar assemblies this year.

[Raul]

Humm - how much bigger than the green gear is that omni wheel? The reason I ask is because on the carpet, the wheel may sink in enough to allow the gear to grab some carpet fibers.

Also, is it just pivoting off the robot frame from that empty set of holes, and thus using gravity to keep it in contact with the floor?

[NoahTheBoa]

If you are just using gravity to maintain contact with the ground have you tested to see if it slips at all when driving on the regolith?

[danshaffer]

Beautiful assembly!
Have you tested whether it will stay on the ground under its own weight? If not, may I suggest gas springs!

[Akash Rastogi]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those delrin sideplates? They look very nice. Good luck with this. =)

[Greg Needel]

I like the fact that black gear is an ABS rapid prototype. Want to clue the world into the right pitch for interfacing with a vex gear?

[AdamHeard]

Soo.... will Vexlabs be selling these?

Originally Posted by Raul

Humm - how much bigger than the green gear is that omni wheel? The reason I ask is because on the carpet, the wheel may sink in enough to allow the gear to grab some carpet fibers.

Also, is it just pivoting off the robot frame from that empty set of holes, and thus using gravity to keep it in contact with the floor?

We had a similar plan, and were thinking if gravity wasn't sufficient, a rubber band to add a slight amount of tension would be easy enough.