17-02-2008 01:10

Ian Curtis

Re: pic: Ready to Rumble

Nice forklift. Very aesthetically pleasing. Also, nice use of that Igus track to keep your wiring looking pretty. I really like how you've got all your sponsor's on your side panels. Can't see your drive train, but I'll assume it's skid steering?

How does your grabber work? Does it get the ball from the top or bottom?

17-02-2008 07:04

Sunshine

Re: pic: Ready to Rumble

Thanks for the kind words

We tried a couple of different drive train configs. We ended up with 6 wheels, omni wheels front and back with traction wheels in the center. Only the center wheels are powered right now. We have it set up so that we can change and power 4-6 wheels. Center wheel is lower to ground than the rest. I know this is a common config in FIRST but new to us (second year team).

The round gripper that you see grabs ball from the top. If you look closely, you'll see 2 small legs on the bottom that hold ball.

With the major emphasis from FIRST on safety. we made the round hoop gripper top collapsible and the feet are connected to springs so that they fold in and up when hit. Reading some of the posts about all of the destruction so far at mini regionals, I'm glad we made it this way.

Thanks for your kind words.