30+ MPH Robot Possible?

[Classified*]

A friend (who is a falconer! How cool is that? ) recently asked me to design for him a remote controlled robot that could pull a half pound "rabbit" (actually a ball of fuzz that looks and moves like one) at 30-40 miles per hour (44-59 fps) so he could use it to train his hawks how to hunt. I'm not sure if he was kidding or not, but it got me thinking... is this possible with "standard" FRC parts, minus the overweight lead acid battery? What is the practical limit to how fast a drivetrain can go? This robot would be all drivetrain. No other manipulators. How fast would this theoretical drivetrain be able to turn, or would it simply flip over at the first attempt to turn? I'm thinking it would be best to have a car-like steering system where the front two wheels pivot instead of having tank drive.

What are your thoughts? What is the theoretical limit on battery powered drivetrain speed?

[logank013]

Here was a thread from a little while ago. This was just a design and not actually built. But their theoretical was 75 mph.

Edit: It also mentions a tote bot made by 868 that went 50 mph apparently.

[marshall]

Yes. But go big or go home. Forget this FRC parts business. Do it right.

http://roborace.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMqB1OrKHr0

[Classified*]

Originally Posted by marshall

Yes. But go big or go home. Forget this FRC parts business. Do it right.

http://roborace.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMqB1OrKHr0

This is awesome !!! But unfortunately it looks like it costs $$$$$$.

[s_forbes]

This seems like a problem that is easily solved by shopping around the RC car hobby sites until you find one that fits your budget. They've already put decades into research and production for fast remote controlled vehicles that handle well. They probably cost quite a bit less than sourcing individual parts yourself, too!

[chrisfl]

I'd suggest researching diy electric skateboards. Check out http://www.electric-skateboard.builders

I'm building one now and it should go roughly 20mph but there are a lot of people on there that are going 30-40mph and weigh anywhere between 150-210lbs. That forum is really helpful and talks about electronics, mechanics, etc. It may be overkill for the weight but you could go in that direction and tone things down a ton. If you search the forum there are calculators to figure out speeds based on your batteries, motors, weight, current and gear ratios.

[KosmicKhaos]

This one team made a robot from a tote that could supposedly go 50 MPH. From my understanding I'm pretty sure it was just 4 CIM motors attached to a tote. I believe they also used a standard FRC battery. So yes it can be done the main idea is to just have it be as light as possible.

Here's a link to the YouTube video
https://youtu.be/_hzAQBc7I7c

There was also a thread about the tote bot which can be found here
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/s...d.php?t=136469

Andymark actually used to sell a kit to make this after that thread came out but it would appear they don't have that anymore.