Cart Design

Hey guys?

Do you have any cool ideas for FRC robot cart designs?

If you didn’t use the Kitbot, this year’s model makes a GREAT base for a cart. Channels for the robot’s wheels to “fall in” to, pre drilled holes for attachments, plus big wheels and ground clearance for any “wire bumps” on the field.

If you’ve got money to spare, cold cathode underglow lights are PERFECT for carts. You get to look extra cool with the added bonus of being able to find your cart in dark venues.

Team 316 has a welded cart. It’s not that special but it gets the robot around and it works great, we just alter it a little every year so it’s like custom all over again! But i’ve seen carts with things like LED lights on the bottom and lots of colors. :cool:

Any suggestions on where to get these cold cathode underglow lights?

Team 103 just has pretty much a toolbox on wheels. Diamond plate on top and bottom, 80-20 for a box around it, casters on the front and stationary wheels on the back. We have a sliding 80-20 handle and two 4 drawer tool boxes facing opposite directions with pretty much all we need.

You can barley see it here:
http://www.cybersonics.org/cybersonics/images/photo4.png

I don’t know if that helps at all.

But for an ideal cart :rolleyes: :
Under-glow
A full 5.1 surround sound system
motorized
bearings to sit the wheels on (for testing)
more Under-glow
and toolboxes :smiley:

this is team paragon 571’s cart… we have used it for many years… sorry for not having an updated picture… the cart features working headlights, red and blue party light, horn, pneumatics system, toolboxes, and the best part, the match checklist
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6726&d=1214601831

our has a compressor on it (for blowing up balls and things like that (usefull in 2008). Shelves for batteries are nice. We also make a robo-mount every year so the robot sits on the cart (wheels not touching) and we have full funcionality for testing. Also, the ‘table’ that the robot sits on is on a scissor (ish) lift so it can be brought up to work on in the pits, and moved down to transport…ireally comes in handy in tight areas like the pits

Ours isnt really cool but its easy to update each year if we ever need to add anything. We put magnetic surgical trays in our cart to make sure hardware doesn’t get lost. There’s a drawer for tools and space to keep spare batteries. The rails are adjustable for robot size.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs180.snc3/20751_334879066640_645471640_3974853_125259_n.jpg

and http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs180.snc3/20751_334879031640_645471640_3974851_6904068_n.jpg

Best thing to do is just make sure your cart is maneuverable and safe.

Here is Da’ Bears this year, small sneak peek.





Good use of old light boxes!!!

We don’t really have anything special for a cart; just a c-channel frame with 1" wood inside. It’s great because we can store stuff on the bottom, we have wagon wheels for crossing over the various terrain of FIRST, and with the wooden top we can screw on whatever type of robot holder we may have.

It’s also ridiculously lite.

Did I also mention it can also move people?

Our old cart was made out of heavy steel with a shopping cart handle. It was only one level, but you can fit 2 robots on it at a time.

In my opinion the most important things about a cart is that
a) Big Wheels
b) Can Store Tools
c) Has 4 Casters on it

Casters are extremely useful for navigating around tight spaces.

No, say thank you to Terminal Supply CO, our sponsor lol. They are amazing.

You guys always have the coolest carts. I envy you guys every time I see one of them! Do you have any pictures of last year’s?

http://gallery.mac.com/fennig#100138/070317-2014&bgcolor=black

http://gallery.me.com/fennig#100111/1020609-202008-20Bot-20on-20cart-2001&bgcolor=black

If you want more let me know, I always loved our carts. Ive been here for both of these. We will be adding on to this one and of course, our awesome horn will always be on.

These should work. I don’t know if they’re 1714 approved or anything, but my friends casemod with these. They’d fit rather nicely in a kitbot rail, though you’d need a power source such as an old battery.

Ours is a simple garden cart with the sides taken off- http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/atlanta%202009.asp EDIT: Link does not work, go to the second page and it will be on the top right.

It works really well with the large pneumatic wheels to get over any obstacle and is light enough to not make moving the robot a chore. Simple, but effective.

Whatever your design, please label your cart with your team number, clearly and in several places. Your event queue staff will thank you for it.