Wave Robotics 2826 Mini-bot 1.45 sec!

[Tyler Olds]

Check out Wave Robotics' latest mini-bot design! Shot in real-time HERE and at 420 FPS HERE or just check out our channel HERE.

Note: Battery is on the mini-bot; only thing that is tethered is the switch to turn the mini-bot on and off.

Deployment mechanism to be coming soon!

P.S. Sorry about the low res ]

[bearbot]

nice jw is you team using magnets or two small wheels and just a battery

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by bearbot

nice jw is you team using magnets or two small wheels and just a battery

Good question! We are using custom "wheels" with no magnets. Really it just comes down to the physics behind the challenge. What really helped us was understanding the motor power curves, increasing the traction interface to the pole, and having the right amount of applied power to weight ratio for the mini-bot.

[Halliday]

Just wondering, how do you plan to start the minibot for deployment?

[Sunshine]

Sweet !!

[Mr. Van]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

What really helped us was understanding the motor power curves, increasing the traction interface to the pole, and having the right amount of applied power to weight ratio for the mini-bot.

How did you provide traction on your custom "wheels"?

-Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox

[trilogy2826]

Mr. Van, I can provide a few hints on the traction material, but don't want to give away the farm quite yet. Plus, what fun would it be if I just told you. ; )

1. The material is 100% legal,
2. The material is not in the Tetrix parts makeup
3. The material has a higher coefficient of friction to steel than rubber (thus is not rubber)
4. The material can be easily found online with the right magic words

The real trick in increasing the traction was making sure we were applying the force to the pole normal to the axis of rotation of the wheel. Our first ten or so protos were a failure (or at least a relative failure) because we were dramatically overthinking the retaining mechanism.


I promise that we will divulge everything at the Wisconsin Regional in week 2. Of Course, by then, everyone will probably have a 1 second minibot and we will be behind the ball.

[Gatlin18]

Did you make your wheels out of Polycarbonate? I'm looking at the list of materials usable on the minibot, and that is the only thing I've seen used as wheels. Not sure about the traction on them, because I don't think anyones ever compared it straight to rubber.

EDIT: Just thought, you could put a nonslip pad (that comes in a roll so it would be easy to put on where the rubber would be of a regular wheel, these still being made of polycarbonate), that would have better traction than rubber.

[trilogy2826]

No Non-slip pad or Polycarb. No aluminum in the wheels either

[penguinfrk]

Inverted surgical tubing? I really have no idea!

This video is going to be the source of inspiration for our minibot team, which is just starting to push 3 seconds.

[Ryan Gordon]

Very impressive, will be interesting to see how it holds up against the competition

[jason701802]

Are you using rolls of electrical tape as wheels? Also, did you remove the standard tetrix gearbox, and if so, what did you replace it with?

[lucoytoa]

Polyurethane wheels

[jacobjlr123]

Now that is a teaser!! Hope to see it and you and sussex

[Mark Holschuh]

Are you guys feeding steroids to your robots again? I didn't see those on the list of approved minibot parts...