pic: Robot cart design

[iyermihir]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

You really should stay away from supporting a robot by it's wheels while on a cart or in the pits. Controls will probably want to run the transmissions to test the robot, and if it's resting on the wheels that's a bear. In addition, if someone accidentally hits the controls while the robot is on and enabled, it's going to drive off the cart and hurt someone. See if you can plan on supporting the robot by its frame.

This can be very useful. I designed a cart last fall that my team used for this years FRC season, and the programmers were quite happy about this. It let us troubleshoot problems at a regional and gave us a way to test code involving driving without the danger of a moving robot. Another thing to consider is the wheels. I chose 8in pneumatic wheels for mine which worked very well. I bought them from grainger and you might want to consider this as an alternative to making your own casters. Also, to ensure that the cart could be used for many years, it is made out of extrusion which makes it easy to change the wheel positions for future robots. Ill try to post some pictures soon. Also, make sure that a five foot tall robot can be taken through a standard doorway on the cart, it makes life a lot easier.