pic: Brakes.. Deploy!

[V_Chip]

Originally Posted by Sb28000

Having a "brake" like that is an impressive idea! Is it pneumatic-powered, or driven by some motor? Also, why does 3451 have a blue bumper on half of its front side? I hope they built them sturdy enough to put up with that much weight applied to them!

Thank you!
The brakes are purely pneumatic.
Luckily 3451's bumpers were still intact, though we did leave an imprint.

Originally Posted by Jeffy

What extra functionality do those "brakes" give you over the typical servo w/ pawl into the gearbox?

Our brake system guarantees that once deployed, we do not move AT ALL. Say if an alliance member went to double balance with us, we usually offer to be the immobile member of the balancing act. Once on the bridge, we plant our brakes. If unbalanced and tipped in our direction, the brakes guarantee that we do not slip and roll off.

Our current configuration of plaction tread wheels may have plenty of grab on the carpet, but are quite slippery on lexan. The pneumatic brakes have an insured non-slip grip pad on the bottom. If the brakes are down, we're not going anywhere.

Here are some of the pictures we took at BAE GSR.
http://buzzrobotics.org/node/193
There is a close up of our deployed brakes.