Mini-bot Ideas

[atinylittlemuon]

Originally Posted by FatBabyJezus

Hmm. How about utilizing magnets, like a maglev train?
Use the magnets to attach to the steel pipe, then flip a switch and propel it to the top?
Would it work?

unfortunetly no, maglev track consists of multiple small magnets of alternating polarity (N,S,N,S...) so the train is propelled by rapidly changing the polarity of its own magnets to cause it to be pulled forward and pushed from behind

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev_...rt)#Propulsion

short of chopping up the pole and magnitizing all the pieces, that wouldn't work. but that would be awesome if we could.

[SAMBURGER]

Originally Posted by Duke461

That's not word for word. It just has to be electrical energy then converted to mechanical energy.

This might sound like a dumb question, but is an electromagnetic still considered an acceptable mini-bot part (AA. magnets)?

They are on the list of accepted parts for the minibot. So yes, I believe so.

[atinylittlemuon]

Hey, idea!

Has any one thought of using magnets in their wheels to attach the mini bot to the pole? That way you wouldn't need any sort of latch to keep the wheel against the pole. You would still need some U shaped part to keep it from turning and going around the pole instead of up it but it would keep wight and complexity down. Someone should look into this.

[Matt C]

Originally Posted by atinylittlemuon

Hey, idea!

Has any one thought of using magnets in their wheels to attach the mini bot to the pole? That way you wouldn't need any sort of latch to keep the wheel against the pole. You would still need some U shaped part to keep it from turning and going around the pole instead of up it but it would keep wight and complexity down. Someone should look into this.

Zoom!

[Duke461]

We've (461) looked into using neodymium magnets in some way. Also, we were able to get our minibot to reach the top in 5.7 seconds already without magnets

[PAR_WIG1350]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

One of my friends mentioned corkscrews. I dont know how it would work, but it would be interesting.

Possibly with recirculating spheres. Awesome idea, but the question is, how would you do it with the allowed parts?

Polycarbonate and PVC/CPVC pipe could be used to build a track for the spheres to move through, Al and polycarbonate wrapped around a piece of PVC or a tetrix tube could form a screw, the part that seems to be the most difficult is what to make the spheres out of, possibly polycarbonate, possibly alternating polycarbonate spheres and magnetic spheres. Traction seems to be a slight issue.

[Numbers]

Originally Posted by Duke461

We've (461) looked into using neodymium magnets in some way. Also, we were able to get our minibot to reach the top in 5.7 seconds already without magnets

Any pictures or hints you'd be willing to share? Our team so far is convinced that magnets is the way to go, but I'm not so sure anymore, and I'd like to convince them otherwise.

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by Numbers

Any pictures or hints you'd be willing to share? Our team so far is convinced that magnets is the way to go, but I'm not so sure anymore, and I'd like to convince them otherwise.

I would love to post a video, Numbers, but right now we're not allowed. Our team has two "brother" teams associated with FIRST, 1747 and 1646 (all teams are located in Lafayette/West Lafayette area nearby Purdue University in Indiana). We have a design review tomorrow, and still we're only showing a really short clip of the minibot moving up the pole. We have yet to use any magnets (and it looks like we won't end up using any; we found an even cooler way to latch on) and we got it to reach the top today in 4 seconds! We're really excited. Sorry i'm not allowed to pass on the info at least at this point its "top secret"