First Robot

[jeremy56763]

There are a few ways to make a carrying devise from pit station to game area you can go motorized or manual. What I would like to know is what is the better way to go.

[Vikesrock]

Welcome to Chief Delphi

It's good to see that you and your teammates have found your way here to the forums.

I recommend you familiarize yourself with the search function here on the forums (spread the message to your teammates too!).

I also recommend checking out these two threads for some general info/advice on posting here on the forums:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=78869
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=50532

The first one is a freebie. I believe the the device you are talking about is what is commonly referred to as a "pit cart" or "robot cart". A small number of teams have designed motorized carts, but most of us find high school students make good motors.

Here's a good thread about carts.
Many pictures of carts can be found here
Here's a motorized cart

My personal opinion is that a motorized cart is a waste of time. A motorized cart will likely be much larger than a non-motorized one. There are also significant safety concerns that must be addressed with a motorized cart (see the description of the picture I posted above). If you're looking for an offseason project I think playing around with different drivetrains or designing a demo robot is more useful than a motorized cart.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by jeremy56763

There are a few ways to make a carrying devise from pit station to game area you can go motorized or manual. What I would like to know is what is the better way to go.

I second what Vikesrock said.

In addition, remember that the pit area is 10'x10' (max, some are smaller), so make sure that you can fit it (and your robot) into the pits.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

In addition, remember that the pit area is 10'x10' (max, some are smaller), so make sure that you can fit it (and your robot) into the pits.

...and your tools, and your battery charging area, and the people who will work on the robot, and EVERYthing else you bring....that isn't in the stands cheering the team and/or scouting.

In other words: The pits are a lot smaller than you might prefer.

Many teams use their pit cart as their work table for when they work on the robot. Some have a lift mechanism, some sit on small stools as they work.

Others have a pit table that stays there all the time, and they just put the small pit cart somewhere out of the way...

[Karibou]

Welcome to Chief Delphi!

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

In other words: The pits are a lot smaller than you might prefer.

Many teams use their pit cart as their work table for when they work on the robot. Some have a lift mechanism, some sit on small stools as they work.

Others have a pit table that stays there all the time, and they just put the small pit cart somewhere out of the way...

Our cart is just an off-the-shelf metal hand cart, with a hydraulic lift system. All we did was add some brackets to it to help fit the robot onto it. We choose to store our tools, batteries, etc. in the pit, but with the brackets that we have, there is a little space underneath the robot to store small things if need be.
The only part of the cart that extends outside of the bumper perimeter is the handle. When we bring our robot back to the pit, it usually just stays on the cart. Even with our gigantic pit tables, the fact that the cart is the same length and width as the robot means that we don't lose any space to the cart. The cart provides some elevation, too, which is useful when making repairs to the chassis.
If we need to take the robot off the cart for some reason, the small size makes it easy to shove into a corner of the pit.

(This picture gives a decent shot of the cart with the robot in the pit, even though half the team appears to be present also)

Oh, and make sure that the cart will fit through a standard-sized door. You might have more than few problems if it doesn't.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by jeremy56763

There are a few ways to make a carrying devise from pit station to game area you can go motorized or manual. What I would like to know is what is the better way to go.

Working que the past few years it stuns me the amount of teams that go all out to build a fancy tricked out motorized cart (which then I have to move to the right place after they loaded their robot onto the field and they forgot all about it) but build a mediocre robot.
Build a manual cart that gets the robot and important things like batteries and tools to the field and spend more time on focusing on building a more competitive robot.
You'll be better for it in the long run.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Working que the past few years it stuns me the amount of teams that go all out to build a fancy tricked out motorized cart (which then I have to move to the right place after they loaded their robot onto the field and they forgot all about it) but build a mediocre robot.
Build a manual cart that gets the robot and important things like batteries and tools to the field and spend more time on focusing on building a more competitive robot.
You'll be better for it in the long run.

I agree with what Ed has said. Happens a little too much where a "sick" cart carries a mediocre to "what the heck does it do" robots.

However, building carts like this can be a good learning experience. Designing and building a motorized cart can be a useful tool when bringing new students onto the team as you can introduce CAD and other methods of the team into the process. But don't make it such a huge priority that other items get side tracked all for the precious cart!

Our team has a simple garden cart from the hardware store with some rails to support the robot, along with a rack in the front to hold some batteries other items of use when your out on the field, (tether, some tools, etc...). We have found that it works really well as it has large tires making it easy to traverse over uneven ground without rocking the bot too much.

Good luck with whatever you end up creating.

[GaryVoshol]

And put your team number on the cart, so Ed knows who to yell at (er, speak to gently) to get it into the proper parking spot.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Our team has a simple garden cart from the hardware store with some rails to support the robot, along with a rack in the front to hold some batteries other items of use when your out on the field, (tether, some tools, etc...). We have found that it works really well as it has large tires making it easy to traverse over uneven ground without rocking the bot too much.

Good luck with whatever you end up creating.

Agreed. We had a garden cart with 2x8s around edge that was spray painted red. Robot sat on the top of the 2x6s, and the area underneath was great for batteries and zip ties. We used it for five seasons, but it was definitely a little worse for wear at the end of last year.

We had a ground level cart on casters in 2004 that was a real pain. You definitely want to be able to pull it from a normal height.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

And put your team number on the cart, so Ed knows who to yell at (er, speak to gently) to get it into the proper parking spot.

Ask the Florida teams, I no longer yell at them to get their carts.
Now I just hide them.

[sanddrag]

It is possible the robot may be geared in such a way, and the wheels and tread have sufficient characteristics that you may not need a cart at all. If you do need a cart, I would most definitely recommend free-wheeling (human powered) over motorized. Fewer problems, easily variable speed and maneuvering, less weight.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Remember that whatever you build will need to be shipped. The combined wisdom of the above posters taken together would imply something that is light, human powered, collapses for travel (or easily fits in the robot crate) and can do double duty as a work platform and a transport for pit tools and accessories.

[Andy Baker]

This is what I suggest using as a robot cart (or something similar):



Andy B.

[RoboMom]

And make sure it fits through a normal size doorway because, trust me, you will be on the other side of that doorway at some point, late for a presentation.
I have fond memories of gentle inquiries about the size of a spanking new customized cart and was reassured they had that taken care of.
Oops. Not quite. They were off by ....

[Chris is me]

As someone who had to push around a robot cart for four events last year, a few things:

1. Big wheels (pneumatic tires or rubber) make going over gaps and wiring sections on the floor much easier. 3 inches of ground clearance in the middle is perfect, less requires some work.

2. A solid handle is significantly better than a rope handle.

3. 2 fixed, 2 omni / swivel casters works well for maneuverability; four casters is a little harder to control with just one person.

4. Storage for stuff like the driver station is nice, not required but your drivers will thank you if they have a spot to throw the controller. (Some robots have room on them for this kind of stuff).

5. Some events (cough 10,000 Lakes cough) have only 32 inches of clearance for your cart. Long way forward and no wider than your robot is the best solution, or at least a way you can shrink it.