Hi everyone,
We already have a nice robot cart. Im planning on working on it in the off season, because all it is, is a cart. It has Storage beneath the robot platform, and a cabinet behind the robot (where your hands go, to push) and a shallow storage up front under the robot.
my ideas are to replace one side of beneath the robot with a set of drawers for tools. Mount a UPS with a large battery in the cabinet, with battery chargers and all the robot batteries and a Cord Reel.
So when you bring the cart back to the pit, you plug in from the reel. and that powers the UPS and the battery chargers. when you are away from the pit (power) you can still charge your Drivers-Station, and other things.
The Reason for the cord reel, is to make it clean and efficient to have the extension cord. (hard to forget) and easy to pack.
The Battery Charges will not be running off battery power, they are only on when AC Power is present. This Keeps the batteries with you and ready for Finals.
Sorry if this is long. But my questions are:
Can you replace a UPS’s battery with something larger easily?
Does anyone know of any cheap Cord Reels? (like out of a vacuum)
What is the best way to mount a rack of batteries? (I was thinking line them up next to eachother, with velcro strap going over them)
Aloha,
We have built a custom cart this year to ship with our robot.
It is setup with drawers for tools, spare parts bins, storage area for the bumpers and team swag. One side has a flat screen tv and dvd player to run our promotional videos and the like. The otherside has a fold out table and white board to go over stratagies with. We have a robot battery storage area with chargers for each stored battery. All of this is set up to run off car batteries with an inverter. It also has a A/C connection to run when not mobile. This also charges the car batteries.
There are some more features that I am sure I am missing, like the fact it secures the robot for shipping and of course carts the robot around safely. We managed to finish painting and polishing it before stop build day. 
This has surely helped us keep from traveling with a bunch of tools and spare parts in the luggage!
We will be at the Los Angeles, Inland Empire and Hawaii regionals, come by and take a look if you are able.
Any questions let me know…
Good luck to everyone!
You can do pretty much anything you like, but remember, it will have to pass inspection. If you have anything battery powered on the bot the inspectors will be taking a close look at it.
I would recommend the following, simply from experience.
-Don’t carry all of your batteries and chargers on the robot cart, but have a slot for one or two. This will keep the cart light and allow you to charge batteries during matches.
-Use an old FRC battery to run your inverter (to charge the driver’s station). Inspectors recognize these batteries and it tends to be easier to convince them of the safety of the setup if things are familiar.
-Make the inverter setup removable, this way if you don’t pass inspection you will still be able to use your cart.
-Wire everything like you would your robot, with fuses, a main breaker, etc. You don’t need to use the power distribution board to hold your fuses, but have a labeled location for them.
-Lots of common sense, This platform will be a combination of transport, display case and workspace for 3 days. Design with that idea in mind an you will be happy
Good luck, the general design of your cart is up to you guys. Make it unique and fun (while keeping it practical).
We have a simple, robust cart, that scissors closed, for adjustable height. We drilled holes in the top for screwdrivers, and we screwed pieces of lumber to the car, so the robot rests on structural member, not wheels that will roll off the cart. It lets us keep a few batteries underneath, as well as a battery and inverter to charge the driver station. Don’t forget to keep a few wrenched, screwdrivers, and zip-ties ready on the cart for last minute repairs or general tightening while on queue.