pic: 1710's Recycle Rush Chassis

[Jpatterson1710]

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[AdamHeard]

It's still week 1.... not too late to ditch those casters!

You'll get a much more predictable drive if you pull them, even if you just switch them to unpowered omnis.

[Breakaway3937]

I think I know where you are going with your design.... Anyway, have you tried the caster wheels on the edge of the scoring ramp. We use casters as part of our prototyping for quick chassis builds and the casters always want to go down the ramp and when you are driving parallel to the ramp, you will be scrubbing your wheels causing a lot on inconsistency in you drive. Just want to throw our testing out there. Good luck with the rest of your design. You have a good start!

[Jpatterson1710]

We have some programming in place to make the casters easily controllable. We did drive this chassis before it was stripped back down the the basics. I'm confident in the chassis and our driver. And, believe me, unless you have some inside information, this chassis will tell you nothing about our strat or design.

[Arpan]

Originally Posted by Jpatterson1710

We have some programming in place to make the casters easily controllable. We did drive this chassis before it was stripped back down the the basics.

Why, though, when omnis will accomplish the same effect without the added weirdness?

[ThunderousPrime]

Originally Posted by Jpatterson1710

We have some programming in place to make the casters easily controllable. We did drive this chassis before it was stripped back down the the basics. I'm confident in the chassis and our driver. And, believe me, unless you have some inside information, this chassis will tell you nothing about our strat or design.

Your code affecting the driven wheels right? I don't see anything hooked up to the castors in that picture.

[Jpatterson1710]

Originally Posted by ThunderousPrime

Your code affecting the driven wheels right? I don't see anything hooked up to the castors in that picture.

Yes, code only controls traction wheels. The way we drive the traction wheels solves any potential issues caster wheels could introduce.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Jpatterson1710

We have some programming in place to make the casters easily controllable. We did drive this chassis before it was stripped back down the the basics. I'm confident in the chassis and our driver. And, believe me, unless you have some inside information, this chassis will tell you nothing about our strat or design.

Please elaborate.

[IronicDeadBird]

Going to have to mirror what everyone else is saying I'd rather see a pair of skis on the front of that then casters. Not to knock your work though. Fantastic job!

[IndySam]

Casters are evil and should be avoided at all cost.
If I see them on a robot they are almost automatically removed from my pick list.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Casters are evil and should be avoided at all cost.
If I see them on a robot they are almost automatically removed from my pick list.

While I think that's a good idea for most games, and I would almost never choose castors myself for a drivetrain, I don't think that's a fair bias to have this year.

This year needs to be approached differently in every aspect of it, including alliance selection. Don't let years of bias creep into this year, when some things actually don't matter.

If 1710 scores more points that x 6 wheel tank, or y 4 wheel mecanum (and fills the void that my alliance needs), I'll pick them.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Gregor

While I think that's a good idea for most games, and I would almost never choose castors myself for a drivetrain, I don't think that's a fair bias to have this year.

This year needs to be approached differently in every aspect of it, including alliance selection. Don't let years of bias creep into this year, when some things actually don't matter.

If 1710 scores more points that x 6 wheel tank, or y 4 wheel mecanum (and fills the void that my alliance needs), I'll pick them.

I said "almost"

[Madison]

There is a lot here that can be improved. I'd encourage you to heed some of the advice you're getting in this thread.

Casters make driving unpredictable. You can mitigate the effect of that unpredictability better over long distances than over short ones using feedback.

The casters may not be a problem if they're never touching the ground, though. Your weight distribution is, so far, bonkers. You want your points of contact with the floor to be as far from your center of mass as possible, generally. Putting your gearboxes and CIM motors outside your points of contact is negatively impacting your center of mass in a big way. If you continue to add structure between or over those gearboxes, it'll only get worse.

It's not too late to save yourselves a lot of headaches later.

[weaversam8]

Wouldn't having the battery off to one side like that affect driving? We moved our battery slightly to the side and our chassis turns due to the extra weight.

P.S: The flipped image is due to iPhone EXIF data. Remove the EXIF data, or modify it, and it will not be flipped.

[JorgeReyes]

How large is the traction wheel and how many wheels are there per side?