Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/23/2001 11:15 PM EST
Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NONE AT THE MOMENT! :(.
I recall seeing different varieties of this… Wood, Lexan, Plexiglass (2 years ago), and various other concoctions…
any others i may have missed? wanna share some good advice for conserving space and preserving beauty? or is lexan the best for the job?
*note that i am referring to the robot controller mount.
** but if u have ideas for operator interface mounts, post that too… i saw some cool ones last year that i never took pictures of…
as always, thanks
-anton
Posted by Ken Leung at 1/24/2001 12:22 AM EST
Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.
In Reply to: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/23/2001 11:15 PM EST:
The most important about mounting the whole control system is to make sure you don’t short out the system just because you mounted it on a piece of metal. I’ve seen teams done that, and the wires are almost touching the metal piece. It is a serious safety issue. There might even be a change to blow up the battery… 
Anyways, about mounting the control system, you want to use a non-conductible material, but also something you can easily work with. Unless you planned the whole control system and electronics out, you should leave yourself space to mount more things (like speed controllers) and you want to be able to easily drill holes for mounting. At the end, once you have your electronics figured out, draw out the plan and make/choose a permanent mounting plate/box. Keep in mind that you should leave some space between components so it won’t be all bunched up, have short and straight connection so it won’t look confusing as well as reducing the risk of bare wires accidentally connecting each other, and you want to label probably all the wire so everyone can tell which wire go to which connection. And finally, the plate/box you choose should have enough strength to hold the system together, as well as protecting it from unnecessary risk from outside world. One last thing to remember about is to make sure wires/cables are cleared away from moving components… accidents like wires caught in between chain and sprocket were ripped off the connection tab.
Be careful and afraid…
Posted by Matt Berube at 1/24/2001 8:48 AM EST
Engineer on team #49, Delphi Knights, from Buena Vista High School and Delphi Automotive.
In Reply to: Re: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Ken Leung on 1/24/2001 12:22 AM EST:
You may want to consider velcro for holding down the speed controllers. It has worked well for us.
Matt B.
T49
Posted by Justin Stiltner at 1/24/2001 12:54 PM EST
Student on team #388, Epsilon, from Grundy High School and NASA, American Electric Power, Town of Grundy.
In Reply to: Re: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Matt Berube on 1/24/2001 8:48 AM EST:
: You may want to consider velcro for holding down the speed controllers. It has worked well for us.
: Matt B.
: T49
I see no problem with mounting it straght on an AL plate… if you use good wireing habits and use the wire tie bases you souldent have any problems. and I see no use for electrical insulation between the bot and the controll system… the case is plastic
Justin Stiltner
Team #388
Grundy Va,
Posted by Tom S. at 1/24/2001 5:00 PM EST
Student on team #177, The Bobcats, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells & ONSI.
In Reply to: Re: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Justin Stiltner on 1/24/2001 12:54 PM EST:
The only spot on that where you have to be careful is when the wires are going through or around the control board… in the heat of the battle, you won’t want the aluminum to pierce through the casing on the wires and short out on you. The original board we had last year was made out of 1/16 aluminum, but we ended up replacing it before we even went to the UTC robot scrimmage before shipping. Good luck to everyone…
Tom
: : You may want to consider velcro for holding down the speed controllers. It has worked well for us.
: : Matt B.
: : T49
: I see no problem with mounting it straght on an AL plate… if you use good wireing habits and use the wire tie bases you souldent have any problems. and I see no use for electrical insulation between the bot and the controll system… the case is plastic
: Justin Stiltner
: Team #388
: Grundy Va,
Posted by Matt Leese at 1/24/2001 9:13 AM EST
Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Rochester Institute of Technology.
In Reply to: Re: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Ken Leung on 1/24/2001 12:22 AM EST:
About planning out your control system: Do it. It’ll save you a lot of time and headaches in the future. Figure out what you’re going to need and find a good place to put it. Also, it’s a good idea to label everything so if there is a problem you don’t have to trace wires. As to what to mount too, my favorite is polycarbonate (everyone quit giving into to the coroporation and stop calling it Lexan ;). Just drill and tap the holes are you all set with it – it’s lightweight and rather attractive. If you’re not going to take my advice, it’s easy to just go with plywood to mount everything on but be careful as it gives you the opportunity to be sloppy. One other caveat that I found out the hard way last year – the InnovationFIRST specs for sizing of the holes, etc. on the control system are off. And when mounting the radio modem good luck finding a #4 machine screw that is 2 1/2" – I found half as many as I needed last year.
Matt
Posted by mike oleary at 1/27/2001 4:48 PM EST
Student on team #419, rambots, from bc high.
In Reply to: Re: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Ken Leung on 1/24/2001 12:22 AM EST:
: The most important about mounting the whole control system is to make sure you don’t short out the system just because you mounted it on a piece of metal. I’ve seen teams done that, and the wires are almost touching the metal piece. It is a serious safety issue. There might even be a change to blow up the battery…
: Anyways, about mounting the control system, you want to use a non-conductible material, but also something you can easily work with. Unless you planned the whole control system and electronics out, you should leave yourself space to mount more things (like speed controllers) and you want to be able to easily drill holes for mounting. At the end, once you have your electronics figured out, draw out the plan and make/choose a permanent mounting plate/box. Keep in mind that you should leave some space between components so it won’t be all bunched up, have short and straight connection so it won’t look confusing as well as reducing the risk of bare wires accidentally connecting each other, and you want to label probably all the wire so everyone can tell which wire go to which connection. And finally, the plate/box you choose should have enough strength to hold the system together, as well as protecting it from unnecessary risk from outside world. One last thing to remember about is to make sure wires/cables are cleared away from moving components… accidents like wires caught in between chain and sprocket were ripped off the connection tab.
: Be careful and afraid…
so if we mount it to metal we could theoretically blow up the battery? now IM inspired…forget about whatever anton wants with the steering wheel
/blows up battery
/ducks as anton throws everything he can reach at me
/runs away before anton picks anything else up
/screams in agony as anton catches up to me and beats me to within an inch of my life
/thinks ‘it was worth it’
Posted by Nate Smith at 1/24/2001 10:38 AM EST
Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.
In Reply to: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/23/2001 11:15 PM EST:
: I recall seeing different varieties of this… Wood, Lexan, Plexiglass (2 years ago), and various other concoctions…
: any others i may have missed? wanna share some good advice for conserving space and preserving beauty? or is lexan the best for the job?
: *note that i am referring to the robot controller mount.
: ** but if u have ideas for operator interface mounts, post that too… i saw some cool ones last year that i never took pictures of…
: as always, thanks
: -anton
Going against what some of the others have suggested, we had ours mounted last year on aluminum plate…one side of our lift tower had the RC, modem, relays, and fuse panels…then all of the wiring was strapped to the back of our towers with a specially made metal strap, and all 8 of our speed controllers were on the other side, in a nice, neat line…Crosswinds is messing up right now, otherwise I’d round up a picture to put with this post…
Nate
Posted by JVN at 1/24/2001 1:25 PM EST
Student on team #250, GE Dynamos - Capital District Robotics Team, from Shenendehowa High School and General Electric.
In Reply to: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/23/2001 11:15 PM EST:
We usually just mount the controls on Lexan, no muss, no fuss… Our real shine comes from the Operator Interface… Our control guys have some insane hatred of joysticks… I’ve included a pic of last years. We sand casted the steering wheel, it is solid aluminum. There are paddles mounted on the back of the wheel for throttle (forward=right, reverse=left)
The other control box (with the lexan arm on it) controls the mechanisms of the robot. (arm, tracks up and down, servos)
The coolest component is the laptop, it displays realtime feed back from the robot to the drivers. It keeps track of time, shows arm height, and ther general status of the entire robot. (it also randomly flashes “Danger, overload” with 30 seconds left in each match…just to make us drivers go nuts)… We also had a HUD (heads up display) that suctioncupped onto the glass of the driver station, it displayed some of the laptop data, but didn’t require the drivers to look down.
I hope some of you guys came to our pit last year to see this, it really was cool…
~John #250
PS: wait till you see this years…mwuhahaha
Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/24/2001 9:44 PM EST
Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NONE AT THE MOMENT! :(.
In Reply to: The Ultimate Operator Interface
Posted by JVN on 1/24/2001 1:25 PM EST:
: We usually just mount the controls on Lexan, no muss, no fuss… Our real shine comes from the Operator Interface… Our control guys have some insane hatred of joysticks… I’ve included a pic of last years. We sand casted the steering wheel, it is solid aluminum. There are paddles mounted on the back of the wheel for throttle (forward=right, reverse=left)
: The other control box (with the lexan arm on it) controls the mechanisms of the robot. (arm, tracks up and down, servos)
: The coolest component is the laptop, it displays realtime feed back from the robot to the drivers. It keeps track of time, shows arm height, and ther general status of the entire robot. (it also randomly flashes “Danger, overload” with 30 seconds left in each match…just to make us drivers go nuts)… We also had a HUD (heads up display) that suctioncupped onto the glass of the driver station, it displayed some of the laptop data, but didn’t require the drivers to look down.
: I hope some of you guys came to our pit last year to see this, it really was cool…
: ~John #250
: PS: wait till you see this years…mwuhahaha
nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice…!
i should spam this place. those are NICE controls :).
it inspires me…
-anton
Posted by JVN at 1/25/2001 5:21 PM EST
Student on team #250, GE Dynamos - Capital District Robotics Team, from Shenendehowa High School and General Electric.
In Reply to: OMG wow!
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/24/2001 9:44 PM EST:
: nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice…!
glad you like em anton… too bad you missed em in practical application… and yet somehow last
year we did not get the control award “but…but…we sandcasted it!”
: it inspires me…
that just scares me… whenever our controls guys get that look in their eye i break out my testing
gloves (making a control system like that actually WORK is kinda annoying) the fact that we
have inspired another person to do this makes me pause in quiet contemplation…and fear
~John #250
PS: try not to make it toooooo easy, it’s like volkswagon says…“Driver’s Wanted”… we need to
work!
Posted by Tom S. at 1/24/2001 8:19 PM EST
Student on team #177, The Bobcats, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells & ONSI.
In Reply to: Control System Mounts?
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/23/2001 11:15 PM EST:
here is a pic of ours…
Basically it is just the components mounted on polycarb… Speed controllers all in a line, three spikes in a line, everything is bolted to the control board with a polycarb cover protecting it from the outside.
Tom
: I recall seeing different varieties of this… Wood, Lexan, Plexiglass (2 years ago), and various other concoctions…
: any others i may have missed? wanna share some good advice for conserving space and preserving beauty? or is lexan the best for the job?
: *note that i am referring to the robot controller mount.
: ** but if u have ideas for operator interface mounts, post that too… i saw some cool ones last year that i never took pictures of…
: as always, thanks
: -anton