Here are some leaked pictures of something new in store… Enjoy!
http://teknobot.net/ch_crab/wheelmod.jpg
http://teknobot.net/ch_crab/frame.jpg
So what do you think?
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Where are the pics…O i get it it’s super secret:cool:
what motors will you have setup turning this beast?
i love the nice wide tires, and the gearboxes look great
So is there an estimated cost for this top secret item? I need to know how much cash to bring with me!
Looks good! - The only concerning part of the design is the cantilevered mounts. They will be taking the entire load of the weight and the twisting forces from direction change.
Nice renderings - I prefer this style because the details are clean and the design easy to recognize.
-Alex
frame looks sleek, dig the trapezoid
Looks like something Craig designed. Which looks like James’s original design. Which always reminded me of Bill Gold’s swerve. 
254/968 gave us pictures like this also…:rolleyes:
I have to say though it looks REALLY nice
The latter is because Bill helped James design 114’s swerve.
nice, the frame is like something I want to design next year for robotics class. its a miniature version of a rover Mike Nawrot is working on. It won’t be as cool as his design but I can try:rolleyes: and I deff. want to try out a swerve next year for a small vex robot. Actually, anyone know if that’s been done and how to make a vex swerve?
Pretty sic. Looks like something that should be traversing the surface of Mars. I guess we will get to see it upclose next year at LSR. Nice design job. Very clean and efficient
What happens if you need to climb something?
It looks very slick! The frame resembles the one we used last year, and it held up well. If you use bumpers wisely, it would even be possible to cut some of your 1/8" pieces down to 1/16".
My only concern is the way you’re mounting your modules. If you get a sold hit from the side, while your wheels are pointed forwards, the load on the shafts are INSANE (you have done crab for 4+ years, you know this =P). If that is a solid block of aluminum (eek! heavy) I’m sure it would be able to hold up. However, no matter how you attach that block to your frame, that will be the weak point. The 1/8" wall of the 2" x 1" box it’s attached to does not seem like it would be able to withstand such loads (especially at the points where it’s connected). If you use rivets, it’s very likely (guaranteed) that they will fail. Maybe consider trying to add support on both sides of your mounting block.
Overall, it’s very scary. I know you guys have plenty of crab experience, so I know you’ll be able to pull this off exceptionally well. Good luck!
I’ve done this very method of support on a heavier crab, and it held up fine. So the upper pivot block style mounting ought to be the least of the issues. The pivot block is a solid block (1 inch tall, actually…), and really isn’t that heavy. I believe it’s approx. .8lbs for each mounting block, which brings the weight of each module up to a whopping 4 pounds. Woo.
Then the outer chassis would be modified, probably to something akin to the robotnauts frame style, with open(ish) corners.
Wow, you’re good. Except my designs aren’t influenced by James’ designs, only the pink bearings are artifacts of his (and they’ve sort of become my trademark…).
See above response for the cantilevered mounts. They’re really not an issue, I’ve worked on a crab that uses the same method. It’s still driving, and it was used in 05.
As for the rendering style, I LOVE the illustration style. A CAD shouldn’t look “real” anyway, so it’s better to make it easy to see and understand.
Actually, if your team wants some help designing a similar crab, I’m debating licensing the CAD under creative commons, with a few personal requests. If you make it, please tell me how it went, and tell me what changes you made. But hey, I have yet to decide that… PM me if you’re interested in this aspect.
The wheels are 2 inches wide. This beast (I like that name, this might need to be called the beastcrab) will be steered by a globe or three. If that’s not in the kit next season, then expect to see a Van Door steered system, or something else with High torque.
Oh, and in case people didn’t get it, this is my design. I wanted to see what would happen if it were posted under someone else (someone famed as part of the legendary robonauts, too).
Feel free to respond or PM me if you have any specific questions about the design.
I was gonna say…this looked exactly like some of your other work…
No matter how you slice it, .8 pounds is a lot. Also, you are cantilevering the module mount (I’m not talking about not supporting the module on top on bottom, but rather only from one side). It would be much more efficient to support the module from two sides. This would require a frame change, but you can switch a lot of the 2x1 to 1x1 in the process along with changing the inner rails to thin wall.
This crab was completely designed by Ninjaneering’s Craig Hickman. Although it may contain some similarities and influence from from previous Robonauts crabs it is not one of them, this is pure Ninjaneering! Take this as a ‘teaser’ or something as you will make of, for next year… Enjoy!
yea i was like: “wait a second, i recognize those wheels! i smell a trick” i love these pratical jokes of desighn geeky ness. anyone notice that they always have to do with crab drive? (the 254/968 swerve fiasco)
really sweet design, proven and verry agile. isolating the steering and drive of the individal modules really allows for some really cool capabilities. think, if done right, you could spin with zero turning radius, AND still have the capabilities of crab drive, without having to make a turreted manipulator.
incredible, but i dont know why the sides are angled, it would seem flat sides would interface with bumper mounts better, and provide a simpler frame to work with, not limiting the space available inside your chassis IMO.
Neat concept, but I also think those module-mounts are a bad way to do it (Not trying to put your design down, that’s just not how I would do it. It would probably work great your way, but I always try to avoid designs with high-load carrying parts)
The overall trapezoid-like design of the frame is awesome! It supports what it needs to and makes it easy to get inside of the robot. Bonus points for looks, too! I really hope someone builds this, it would be way cool to see it driving around.
I can’t ague with this; a long time ago I did pester Bill a lot during the build season. 
James