We got to are robot weighted today and it came in as 57.7 pounds!!! We need to add weight how can we do this!!!
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literal weights are a great way to do it cheaply and they are cots. you could also add manipulators to every side of your robot or make a giant sign that says your team name on it
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7893 at Lake Superior regional added weight to their drivetrain by using actual weights. To start they only had a KOP drivetrain. They added weights to the center of their robot so they would have a low center of gravity and be balanced. Depending on your situation where and how you add weight could be very different.
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Why do you want to add weight? It will slow down your robot.
I’m assuming a robot that light is probably a defense only robot, and if it is, then they probably want to add weight to have more of an effect while playing defense, since light robots will get easily pushed around.
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Are anvils allowed
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if properly mounted, and sharp edges removed, i think so
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What ever you use make sure that it is safe and very well secured. Do not put loose stuff in a container and duct tape it to your robot. Field reset is very unimpressed when stuff spills all over the field. No batteries, or unsealed lead plates. No dumbbells or weight plates zip tied on.
We tend to use steel plate as it is fairly dense, easy to fit into whatever space we have, easy to tweak the weight, and easy to secure (drill holes and bolt). Typically you want to add the weight as low as possible, and as close to your designed center of mass (usually centered between the wheels). A thick steel belly plate is a easy thing to add for most robot designs. Also adds a fair bit of frame stiffness, which is good if you are contemplating playing defense.
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Steel. Big slabs of steel like 1/4" bar stock. Just bolt it on the underside of the frame and you’ll add weight and keep your center of gravity low to the ground.
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But make sure there is still ground clearance for the hab
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So, for a defensive robot in this game, is pushing power more important that speed?
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“get in the way” defense works against most scoring robots, there doesn’t seem to be too much need to play “push them across the field” defense. A light robot can get where it needs to go more quickly, possibly?
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We tried this with one of our defense bots and this is way too light. They were just pushed around like they weren’t even there, the other team was not even phased and just cycles like normal. I would say to get closer to 90-100 pounds so they are still relatively light but can’t get pushed as easily.
Add more batteries. /s
Our lead mentor suggested this at our last competition.
Not a good idea.
Here’s a better one: 13.5" x 7" x 1", designed to fit in a backpack (laptop slot). Attach securely.
Speed is definitely important, but speed means nothing if any half decent robot can push you around. Plus, unless ur running a 1 cim per side drivetrain, going from 60 to 120 pounds should not noticeably slow down a defense robot in any meaningful way.
Absolutely, most robots do get seriously effected by just getting in their way. But if a defense bot weighs 50 pounds, they will simply be pushed out of the way by most half decent scoring robots.
At our regionals there were plenty of 50 pound kitbot defense robots, and they had very minimal effect on our scoring cycles, because they were simply pushed out of the way, with our robot barely slowing down to do so. The few robots that did have effective defense weighed in the range of 100 - 120 pounds.
Last year my team used lead weights (covered of course) secured with a hose clamp to the back of our robot. Come to think of it, I think they’re still on there.
Defense != Pushing. You want to get between the robot and their goal, that’s more agility.
That said, you probably want to weigh more than 57 pounds. Add weight until it starts to drive noticeably worse, then take a little off and roll with that.
I’m aware, I was talking about the robot being defended pushing the defense robot out of the way.
There are plenty of examples of this, but this is the first that came to mind: https://youtu.be/qG6LSpqDYGE?t=41 . 7412 tries to get in the way of 364 several times, only to be pushed away, mainly due to their lack of weight.
I agree with Rohit, weight is a big part of defense in this game. Robots without weight simply can’t play defense as effectively as a heavier robot when trying to cover one rocket and one side of the cargo ship.
To OP: As others have mentioned, regular weights work well. Steel is good, but only if you can actually secure it to your robot. If you’re just attaching to your chassis, a bunch of thick (11" long) zipties per weight will do a good job of securing them.