Caster questions?

[team 2191]

Will a bot with four casters and 2 drive wheels placed in the center be able to function in the overdrive comptetion? Please answer back a.s.a.p.

Team 2191

[midway78224]

it should i dont see y not be i would think bout replaceing the caster with omni wheels

[GaryVoshol]

Legal? Yes.

You'll have to research for yourself whether or not it would be effective.

[Elgin Clock]

It's a configuration that worked great for us in the past.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/13930

The center wheels were pneumatic (air filled) while we had 4 casters on the 4 corners of the robot.

Be careful as to where you mount your casters in relation to your center wheels.

You more than likely want all 6 wheels touching the carpet on the same plane, so mounting the casters lower (if they are smaller than your drive wheels) is necessary.

The bad thing with this design is that your robot can and will be able to spin very easily.

Your turning point on your robot will now be directly in the center of the chassis (re: right in the middle of your center drive wheels).

Cool for "crazy death spins" but not so cool if you lose your bearing as to which is the front, and have to turn a lot.

I personally think that design would be sucessful as far as a straight lap robot.. (ie: one meant just to drive around and do laps) but not for any robot that wants to carry or hurdle a ball this year.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

The bad thing with this design is that your robot can and will be able to spin very easily.

That's both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on whether or not you want to spin. You should carefully consider how you'll be controlling the turns in the Overdrive game. Think of it as a challenge for your programmer.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

That's both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on whether or not you want to spin. You should carefully consider how you'll be controlling the turns in the Overdrive game. Think of it as a challenge for your programmer.

Hint: The gyro can be used to measure the number of degrees that the robot turns.

[Molten]

Yes. It will certainly be able to function, the thing to keep in mind though is the length of your motors. They are "almost" designed to go in the center. It will probably have great turning and if done right is a great idea. Good luck on figuring this out, and I hope it works well for you.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by team 2191

Will a bot with four casters and 2 drive wheels placed in the center be able to function in the overdrive comptetion? Please answer back a.s.a.p.

Team 2191

I would caution against it.

If a caster gets raised on a bump in the carpet or a part off of another robot you can unload both of your center wheels and will be stuck.

Happened to us four years ago.