Remedy a too dropped center?

[meibnotu]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

A powerful drivetrain, grippy wheels, an 1/8" drop, and a heavy shooter up very high can produce those same results. With short wheelbases, I would probably drop less than 1/8", or may not even drop at all (depending on the exact wheelbase configuration).

Since you are only 95 lbs, add weight as low as you can and as centered as you can in the robot. A massive steel part an inch above the ground in the middle of the robot would be ideal.

Another potential cause is to check your drive train speed controllers, and move the brake/coast jumpers to coast mode. Also, check your driver to make sure they are not slamming the joysticks to full forward and reverse, you want to smoothly ease into all movements.

@artdutra04 In at least one of the videos we were definitely doing that, but that was to resolve an jamming problem so that accentuated the rocking. Typically the joystick motions are much smoother, but it still resulting in tipping. Hence the thread

[MrForbes]

It looks like you have a wide, tall robot, which is pretty much gonna be a tippy robot, no matter what you do with the center drop. Most wide robots have only 4 wheels, since you don't really need dropped center wheels to make them turn reasonably well.

If I'm mistaken about the design of your robot, please describe it better (including dimensions for wheelbase, track width, etc), post some pictures, or something....it's hard to see it in the videos, I had to watch them a few times just to find a robot that looks like it might say 4080 on the bumpers.

[AlecMataloni]

Are you using the kitbot frame? If not, how much is your center wheel dropped?

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by meibnotu

Our robot features drop center for various reasons and it has been very advantageous, but the team has come to the conclusion that the drop center might be too dropped. During Peachtree Regional we duct taped on 4 boxes of roller chain, an extra sim, and an air tank. The ballast was very effective but we noticed that it was effecting our ability to move quickly across the field so all of the ballast got removed. Suggestions to adjust the drop center slightly with less janky solutions?

How are a ballast and the center drop related?

It would be helpful if you could describe what you didn't like about the movement of the robot with the ballast compared to before it was added.

We ran a 5/16" drop this year, which is one of the larger drops I have ever seen, and have no issues @114 pounds + battery and bumpers.

[Nate Laverdure]

Add a bunch of zip ties in loops around the treads of the four outer wheels. This will do two things: increase the OD and decrease the side-to-side traction. I like to call these "poor man's omniwheels".