118 Crab Module Conference Presentation

[Richard McClellan]

I wish I could make it, but I won't be at Championship this year. Can you guys post the presentation somewhere or make it a CD whitepaper after Championship?

Out of curiosity, how much time does it take for you to assemble one whole module? Our team designed a 3-wheel independently steered crab drive system for the first time this year, which worked surprisingly well for our first attempt. One of the disadvantages was that it was not very easy to maintain. If one part failed, the entire module had to be disassembled, part replaced, and reassembled. In our second to last qualification match the drive motor on our rear module (an RS-545) burned up. As soon as the match ended, our whole team worked as fast as possible to get it replaced. We had about an hour and 10 minutes between matches, and by the time we got the last nut tightened down, our last match had just started and we missed it. If we decide to do crab drive again next year, one of our goals will be to increase serviceability.