What do you think the best shap of a robot body is?
i.e triangle
square
circle
one like a pancake, that can run downside up
then you can name it:
pompous snodwod
cause its name will be the same upside down and verse visa.
Best body shape is whatever you can make antimatter look like… cause then you can transport your opponent to an alternate universe… so, go for prototyping that… just be careful you don’t make yourself go away on accident 
edit
Make it a hovercraft as well, cause an antimatter hovercraft robot would be awesome.
I wonder how many times FIRST has been asked THAT question after the kickoff meeting:
“Ive got this idea for our robot, but Im not sure if the rules allow it. Is transporting your opponent into a parallel universe against the spirit of the rules?”
but I digress.
I think for each year, teams should start out with a basic two wheel design, dragging a castor for stability
then only make the drivetrain different if absolutely necessary.
also, a round chassis that spins on two wheels can never get stuck in a corner, or against a wall. but a circular chassis is not easy to make.
you Know im rigging Gullwing Doors and a Flux-Compacitor up in the 2K4 Swampthing
*Originally posted by dddriveman *
**What do you think the best shap of a robot body is?i.e triangle
square
circle **
Driveman,
The shape of the robot shouldn’t be determined ahead of time. As you design your mechanism, let the robot chasis grow organically around it. A perfect melding of form and function.
This way, you’ll have plenty of room to integrate the kill-saws.
Seriously… a simple square “base” with some mechanism on top usually works well. Some teams design their robot chasis/drive ahead of time. Some tweak these designs to accomodate a “ball chute” or other mechanism. Others design the robot around the mechanism, or make the chasis itself part of the mechanism.
Do whatever you feel comfortable with.
John
Go modular. Being able to piece it all together easily, just putting together four fasteners and a wiring harness for every piece of your robot is essential for ultimate goodness. And make sure your left and right motors turn the same direction.
I never follow my own advise.
I have a really cool idea for a body. I spent a bout twelve hours straight on the designing. It was a real headach but i believe that it will be worth it. I already have wheels and gears drawn in. I dont have motors yet because i don’t know what kind we will get. I will post it later after i get access to a scanner. B/c i had to draw it by hand.
Last year one of the body designs shot down for are KOH was an tirnagle thing with tow sides the same compltly drawing a blank on the name right here:o but basically it had treads on the edges sitcking out on all sides so we could run on all sides of the triangle and plate that came down to form a bridge up for the bins. We would stick to the top with friction pads of sort that woudl lift us off the groujd so the treads could also act as conveyor belts. But the idea was scrapped for one reason or another anyway Long story short build the shape arounf ur design not ur design around the shape
honestly, the best body shape would have to be a sphere… i mean common, and if you can make one of those sheres that absorb things, you will be set
Most teams build square bases. Many of these teams have the resources and creativity to build the best base possible, yet the square bases still persist. This leads me to believe that the best body shape, within reason, would be a square.
I think y’all mean rectangular when you say square, right? I mean, otherwise, what a waste of space.
*Originally posted by Tytus Gerrish *
**you Know im rigging Gullwing Doors and a Flux-Compacitor up in the 2K4 Swampthing **
Hahaha, I that brings back memories of “Team such and such would like to request that if anyone has any…umm…flux?..compacitors, that they loan it to them. Thanks”
I am soo making sure 108 is the first to ask that at regionals, heh.
Anyways, I prefer Rectangle. It fits easily into the size requirments, gives you the maximum wheel base, gives you four definite sides for slamming up against things and bots with, and leaves you with easily machinable parts (no trying to figure out how to build a circular piece of sheet metal in the pits if your armor breaks loose 
)
Personally I am all for the sphere idea, but good luck getting that to work in a KotH.
A circular base has lots of advantages you dont have to worry about corners on the playing field, you dont have to worry about protecting your corners, and the strength of a perfect circle is very nice, but there is also the problem that the size limitations are rectangular, so your robot would have a major size disadvantage seeing as you would have to build up instead of out, which is horrible for balance.
Triangle is just odd although if you did something like a triganol pyramid (4 triangular faces) then it could be rather useful if you were flipped or something because with just 4 wheels, two along one edge and two along its opposite skew edge, you would always have driving wheels on the ground. But yet again this is faced with the size problem.
Square, or rectangular, is seemingly the best of what you listed simply because of the way size regulations are set up. With the box your robot has to fit in having a rectangular bottom, the best way to optomize space and sit as low as possible is to spread out as far as possible in that box.
Personally though I think a design for a pentagon shaped bot would be cool. However, you can’t completely determine the shape of your bot until the game is released, you do need to build your robot around the game and not around what everybody else does. I know our bot will most likely be rectangular again this year, but we will once again be more concerned with our drive train than we will with shape. I know last year we were one of the few robots that had multiple gears and could shift them on the playing field.
Good luck with whatever you design though.
*Originally posted by Tytus Gerrish *
**you Know im rigging Gullwing Doors and a Flux-Compacitor up in the 2K4 Swampthing **
Technically, an electric permanent magnet motor with a flywheel could be considered a “Flux-Compacitor” (ahem flux capacitor):). Apply current and the flywheel spins up. Remove the current, and te flywheel continues to spin, inducing a magnetic flux field around the windings.:yikes:
Now gullwing doors? What is a gullwing door?
*Originally posted by M. Krass *
**I think y’all mean rectangular when you say square, right? I mean, otherwise, what a waste of space. **
Details, details.
one thing that most teams forget is the max size your bot can be at the start of the match DOESNT mean the robot cannot be standing on its side when the match starts
too many people think the bottom of the outline box MUST be the bottom of the robot
it doesnt
you could build a bot that sits on the field on its side, and at the start of the match it falls sideways onto its wheels
that means you could have a base frame (what were the limits last year?) 3 feet wide and 5 feet long? or 5 feet wide and 3 feet long?
or a circular bot 3 feet in diameter?
this is one time when you literally need to think outside the box.
*Originally posted by KenWittlief *
**one thing that most teams forget is the max size your bot can be at the start of the match DOESNT mean the robot cannot be standing on its side when the match startstoo many people think the bottom of the outline box MUST be the bottom of the robot
it doesnt
you could build a bot that sits on the field on its side, and at the start of the match it falls sideways onto its wheels
that means you could have a base frame (what were the limits last year?) 3 feet wide and 5 feet long? or 5 feet wide and 3 feet long?
or a circular bot 3 feet in diameter?
this is one time when you literally need to think outside the box. **
I remember this year team 19 did that. It was a really amazing thing to see. If anyone saw the Science Channel video, they were the team that was blocked by the Pius Princesses in the semi-finals.
The only problem with such a design is interference from other teams. This year such a thing would be illegal, but who knows what the game will be like next year.
*Originally posted by Anthony *
**
Triangle is just odd although if you did something like a triganol pyramid (4 triangular faces) then it could be rather useful if you were flipped or something because with just 4 wheels, two along one edge and two along its opposite skew edge, you would always have driving wheels on the ground. But yet again this is faced with the size problem.
**
one of the pros of a trianglular base (assuming you also go with a triangular drive train, don’t know how you’d go about that though) is that you always keep all wheels in contact with the ground even when going over ramps and things at sharp angles. could be handy if they ever give us a really multi-leveled field with lots of ramped obstacles and stuff…
Gullwing doors are those doors that flod upwards to open, and have a piece of the roof attached to them. There were gullwing doors on the Delorean from Back to the Future. Thats whats he’s making reference to.