Team 2013's Inventor prototype

[Phil007]

Here is a pic of our design so far. This year, our 'engineering' help isn't available and my background is architecture... thus the sleek design. Hopefully it works. I would appreciate any comments.
Some design specs are as follows:
- Wheels will be custom made from aluminum, but we are looking into UHMW as a lighter medium. The wheels as pictured will weigh around 6 lbs each in aluminum, and around 2 lbs in UHMW. We don't know if UHMW will work, so if anyone has any experience with the stuff, please comment.
- Wheels are powered by four CIMS with Banebot planetary's... ya, I know, they are not the trans of choice, but they are compact for this design, and they have not let us down yet. Keeping our fingers crossed !
- The kicker is spring loaded, will be drawn back into loaded position with an FP motor/trans, released with leadscrew device. We wanted to stay clear of pneumatics as weight could be an issue. A rotary sensor is mounted to adjust the kicker for long & short ranges. The kicker (as tested in our halls) is able to move the ball 50ft through the air before landing. Quite powerful.
- Ball magnet between front wheels (still testing, using 1-1/2" PVC coated with tool grip paint... I'll update that later)
- So far, the team does not want to attempt climbing for the 2 points. They feel that we will be able to score the two points to justify the decision. However, if they decide later to add something, the curved orange panels open up, similar to a ladybugs shell, to expose the inside mechanisms
- The current design allows over the hump & through the tunnel travel, whichever will be of more benefit to the alliance.
Looking forward to some comments,
Cheers.