Rookie team questions on chassis and drive train

[KleinKid]

Well we obviously had no idea what we have gotten ourselves into but are excited to be apart of the program. We received our KoP and categorized each item and placed it into a closet with drawers and cataloged where we put each item. Then the team just sat there for a while and stared at each other with a blank look on each of our faces because none of us know really what any of the parts are used for or do. After much reading we have a better idea at what we want to do.


I'll try to limit my questions to a manageable amount but i'm sure i'll ask too much.

Regarding our chassis would it be better to just use the KoP provided one for simplicities sake or CAD our own and weld it in our school mechanical shop? We were thinking of using 3/8ths inch aluminum cut to 1" width and basing the shape off of what we have seen very commonly done in the photos section.

We plan to use the KoP wheels for now in a 6 wheel drive format. Would it be better to buy omnidirectional wheels for the outer 4 or to drop the middle wheel? The KoP doesn't seem to have come with enough sprockets for a 6 wheel drive so i'm guessing we will need to buy more.

The KoP comes with two CIM motors but most designs i've seen have had 4 so i believe we will be purchasing an additional 2 but we are not sure if we need additional gearboxes for each CIM motor.


Hopefully we will have all of this in CAD tomorrow so that we can move on to our manipulator design but we are just so unsure on how to proceed so any addition tips or advice to a rookie team will be much appreciated.