This a fun mini bot that we are building with our new members to train them on fabrication, assembly, and how to build bumpers etc…
The frame perimeter is a 15.5 in square.
It is geared for 18.6 ft/sec free speed.
This a fun mini bot that we are building with our new members to train them on fabrication, assembly, and how to build bumpers etc…
Adorable!
But where’s the PDP?
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Good question. The PDP was too big. Our plan is to crimp all the power wires into the negative anderson connector contact and the breaker lug with our hydraulic crimper. We will probably use an inline fuse for the RIO and radio.
It would be better (and safer) to get a small breaker panel to hold the 40A breakers, similar to what FIRST used back with the IFI control system.
I think we might get a main breaker that is rated for less current and be happy with that. With RC cars and airplanes the batteries are usually plugged strait into the motor controllers without breakers or fuses.
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On our team we like building minibots, and we have made some that were very small. We fit the PDP on ours by building up from the frame with some 8020 pieces and an electronics bellypan. we have a two layer electronics board that can fit everything if layed out correctly. I think you can build up over the motors, just make it easy to remove that top board to access the stuff beneath it. Just a suggestion.
I love the design of this one, especially the battery placement. It’s a lot more elegant than ours :]
Here are two pictures of our most recent minibot, SmalBoi.
We’ve had pretty good luck with these inline breakers for various side projects. If you want a bit more safety, you could also add something like this that would accommodate standard FRC 40A breakers (there are many different versions of these available but the idea is the same).
1/4" and 5/16" female spade crimps can be used to grab the snap action breakers we use and are dirt cheap.
I was looking for a source of them recently, any sources in particular you use for them?
We did something like that, just it was a lot less neat. It was great for having a small bot for programmers to test on!
So, if your 2018 bot was any indication, you guys are totally going to run all omni drive next year, right? 
McMaster, or if you need them today go to an auto parts store.
That looks very neat and clean! Any reason not to use the neos? A mini bot seems to be a nice test bed.
It was designed before NEOs were announced, but it would certainly work. If we get our preordered NEOs in time we will put 2 of them on this bot. We haven’t assigned densities to all the parts in CAD, but with the NEOs I would guess the battery and bumpers might weigh more then the rest of the robot.
We are trying to run a different drive train type every year, so you can expect a butterfly drive from us this year. 
In all seriousness though, we will do swerve again if the game is appropriate for it. Likely the SDS MK1 COTS modules or a little less likely our new module that is currently being worked on.
So far the build is progressing smoothly.
I really love this design, especially the bumpers. I am taking some inspiration from this design for our next minibot.