*Originally posted by roninmedia *
**I think our robot could get to the boxes in about 2 to 3 seconds max. Our robot can move about 16.0-17.5 ft/s depending on the surface. I’m most likely underestimating. **
if you go 17.5 ft/s over the ramp, I wont be supprised if you end up flipped or on your side. You will be in the air for about a half second.
Greg
*Originally posted by roninmedia *
**I think our robot could get to the boxes in about 2 to 3 seconds max. Our robot can move about 16.0-17.5 ft/s depending on the surface. I’m most likely underestimating. **
watch your time to accelerate to max speed - your robot will not be goign that fast instantly… assuming you are using just the drills to drive, it usually takes 2-3-4 seconds to accelerate to 10ft/s, so it will probably take 5-6-7 or more seconds to get to your max speed, assuming you don’t stall your motors 
Tom
We’ll be traveling 17ft/s on flat surfaces but there is no way we’ll be going over the ramp at that speed.
Our team hasn’t decided how fast we will want to be going on the ramp. We are constructing a ramp to test what speed we want the robot to be moving.
Has it occured to you that besides over the ramp, when do you need to go 17ft/s?
It will take you 2-3 seconds to get up to max speed (probably much more) and by then you’ll have run out of possible room to accelerate (excluding ramp).
Speed is important this year, but there is a reasonable cap on what is pratical (unless you wish to attempt jumping the driver stations off the ramp )
Greg
BOXES!!?!??! what boxes?!?! i thought we were working with bowling balls!!
*Originally posted by Tom Schindler *
**watch your time to accelerate to max speed - your robot will not be goign that fast instantly… assuming you are using just the drills to drive, it usually takes 2-3-4 seconds to accelerate to 10ft/s, so it will probably take 5-6-7 or more seconds to get to your max speed, assuming you don’t stall your motorsTom **
this isnt entirely true… We hit the goals in no more than three seconds last yr @ 13-14fps.
We’ll be traveling 17ft/s on flat surfaces but there is no way we’ll be going over the ramp at that speed.
I guarentee you will not be able to turn at that speed no matter what drive system you are using. Keep that in mind
Cory
you didnt hear it from me, but Truck can make it up in somewhere between 5 and 15 seconds, depending on which gear we are in
*Originally posted by Cory *
**Not really… we are doing it in a way that requires very little turning… I’ll let you think of how.Cory **
hey, i think we have the same idea!
lol
well just have to wait and see huh?
We are gearing ours to run ~7meters per second . . . top speed, mind, assuming a coefficient of friction of ~1.2, we will still be able to almost slip our wheels. . . . .
Of course, 7 meters per second translates to around 21 feet per second, which I do understand it completely ridiculous (If we were to go up the ramp at 6.5 m/s we would remain airborn until we landed on the carpet on the other side) so we will probably program it to only get that fast when a ‘safety’ button is held down.
Looks like a fun year.
A robot of 130 lbm with a friction coefficient of 1.0 on the carpet (a popular assumption) can accelerate at 1 g (given enough motor power, proper gearing, etc) or 32 ft/sec^2. That means it can achieve a speed of 16 ft/sec in 0.5 sec, during which time it will have traveled 4 feet. The drive train power (delivered to the ground) to accomplish this initial acceleration is 1,400 w.
If this bot is to hang a 180 degree turn and storm up the ramp to clobber the wall, the frictional force on the carpet to make the turn is: F = m * V^2 / R. The frictional force is again 130 lbf (mu of 1, 130 lbm ‘bot), and a turning radius of about 4’ takes the bot from park to about the center of the ramp. This result says the fastest the bot can corner is at about 11.3 ft/sec, at which point it spins out. At this speed it takes about 1.1 second to make the 180 degree turn, and then another 1.0 second to make it to centered on the top, if the same speed is assumed up the ramp.
So, physical limits to drive to the top say about 2 seconds, assuming the bot can deliver sufficient torque to (almost) spin its wheels from rest all the way up to 11.3 ft/sec. I will bet no autonomous bot will be able to hit the wall of containers in less than 3 seconds.
Dodd
We were planning to o about 10.5 F/sec, but the main problem is what if you and your adjacent opponent both go up the hill in the first 15sec your white lines will intesect at the top of the hill. So it all depends on who gets to he top first, and still has enough power to push as many boxxes to there side as they can.
Thats the only problem I forsee, the only way to get around it is to program your bot to go up the center of the ramp instead of up the side. The middle holds alot of points that can go either way!
*Originally posted by Dodd *
**A robot of 130 lbm with a friction coefficient of 1.0 on the carpet (a popular assumption) can accelerate at 1 g (given enough motor power, proper gearing, etc) or 32 ft/sec^2. That means it can achieve a speed of 16 ft/sec in 0.5 sec, during which time it will have traveled 4 feet. The drive train power (delivered to the ground) to accomplish this initial acceleration is 1,400 w.If this bot is to hang a 180 degree turn and storm up the ramp to clobber the wall, the frictional force on the carpet to make the turn is: F = m * V^2 / R. The frictional force is again 130 lbf (mu of 1, 130 lbm ‘bot), and a turning radius of about 4’ takes the bot from park to about the center of the ramp. This result says the fastest the bot can corner is at about 11.3 ft/sec, at which point it spins out. At this speed it takes about 1.1 second to make the 180 degree turn, and then another 1.0 second to make it to centered on the top, if the same speed is assumed up the ramp.
So, physical limits to drive to the top say about 2 seconds, assuming the bot can deliver sufficient torque to (almost) spin its wheels from rest all the way up to 11.3 ft/sec. I will bet no autonomous bot will be able to hit the wall of containers in less than 3 seconds.
Dodd **
Good, now I don’t have to work this out for myself
Isn’t 1400 watts more then the motors can deliver? Maybe if someone uses stored energy in springs (though a team update kindof rules that out).
I forsee the biggest problem with speed being control. It would be very difficult for a human to make that turn that accurate every time, I see no way to do it without the line with the computer (and lets see you track a line at 10fps).
Greg
1400 watts/12 volts=116.7 amps.
Good luck.
Like was mentioned before, the challenge here is NOT how fast your robot can move.
Anyone who has worked with a feedback system (line tracking) will know that it will be very difficult to enable the robot to travel at full speed through the entire course of the turn and still hope to end up facing the boxes on top of the ramp.
Effectively, it would be VERY difficult for a robot to travel beyond 6-7 ft/sec and hope for the program to keep up with the curve.
Anyone that has worked in Lego-League will know that too basic a line tracking system makes your robot bounce left and round on the line, and a dead reckoning system with no feedback would be very difficult to get consistant with every condition.
Instead of the discussion being robot speed, perhaps it should shift to the real purpose of the challenge, sensors and programming
Did anyone stop to think that hitting the boxes at full speed is likely to knock them over your robot and into your opponents scoring zone?
If you do it right, it won’t fall backwards, and yes, that was our teams first concern about building a short bot. 
We will be “there” faster than you can realize your robot is one, and a great deal of bins will be on our side very quickly…we have an arm specifically designed for this process (minimum, quick movement into position) that is very fast and strong, and just the right length. And we already have the code written to control it during autonomous (and for that matter human control) mode - its sweet! How many teams are using arms? How many of these are just long enough to get over and knock some bins? How many are uber-arms that go anywhere and do anything?
190’s robot should be able to reach the top in 3 seconds this year. Control won’t be a problem either. I can’t say much more than that.
Ramp? What ramp?
Maybe, if a group of programmers got ambitious, one team will make an inertial guidance system. 
All it would take are two of the yaw sensors, and good integration. However, it would take a huge amount of programming.