pic: Robot suspension

[s_forbes]

Cool video! That's a very clever drivetrain concept, and I'm glad to see you got it working. It looks like a really fun project, although it may be difficult to implement for a FIRST robot (mostly because of the mechanism and bumper mounting... but I'm sure you guys could think of something ). I'd love to see it used in competition.

Can it go up the ramp fully sideways, or does it start to slip?

[joeweber]

We have been driving it quit a bit and it goes sideways and angle wise great. If we do use it for competition we would use segmented bumper for each of the moving drives. We originally were going to attach them to the rods that supported the main part of the robot but the stationary bumpers might hit the ramp as it goes up and over.

[MaiPrettyPwny]

Could you tell me if I'm looking at this right?

It looks like, to me, that the two wheel assemblies are only connected to the central frame in three points. One on either side of the frame near the rear wheels (the white tube, yes?), and the other on the parallelogram in the front.

If this is true, when that parallelogram "flexes," doesn't it pull the two front wheels in towards each other?

[joeweber]

Originally Posted by MaiPrettyPwny

Could you tell me if I'm looking at this right?

It looks like, to me, that the two wheel assemblies are only connected to the central frame in three points. One on either side of the frame near the rear wheels (the white tube, yes?), and the other on the parallelogram in the front.

If this is true, when that parallelogram "flexes," doesn't it pull the two front wheels in towards each other?

Yes you are correct. For the test robot it did bring the front wheels closer. With this years robot we are not useing the three points, we will use four but they will be above the robot drives.