Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

[EpicentrE]

Weight Distribution.

Certainly that plays a role, and is always something I think about when desiging, but I'm skeptical as to whether it could account for the huge difference between Peter's tests and my own experiences. In fact, looking at Peter's setup, I'd say his weight distribution is more centralised over the wheels than it is in Void.

Another thought; Peter, on your setup, does the back half of the chassis ride along the ground (as it would in a 2wd robot), or does the force of the two vertical plates being pushed together cause the chassis to lift up and be parallel to the floor?

[peterwaller]

Before I did the newer measuments I made some slight changes to the test rig.
First I moved the steel balast to be either side of the motors to get the maximum load over the wheels.

Second I added a small rear support to keep the chassis level.

[peterwaller]

Just ordered my chassis and wheels for my new robot from Shapeways.
I suppose I cant call it a full body spinner as it doesn't have a body so maybe it should be a TSW robot. (Total Surround Weapon)
This is likely to be very difficult to get in the weight so it might be doomed to failure.

[peterwaller]

Here is the chassis with a few of the major items added to check the fit.
The colour scheme is just to make it clearer and is not necessarily final.

[earthwormjim]

Fbs, full body sucker?

[peterwaller]

I thought the shot from below might give it away.
I have for some time been considering this but just getting it in under weight was likely to be the main problem.
I have the smaller lighter pump but it doesn't have the power of the bigger one so I have had to increase the area of the vacuum chamber.
The chassis is an attempt to give me something to experiment with to get the right relationship between the suction and the wheels / grip and may well take more than one iteration to get correct, which is why I haven't got into the detail of pump, controllers, battery and receiver positions yet.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

If you get that working properly and in weight, it'll be fearsome! I hope you manage it.

[earthwormjim]

In theory,that could be just about the perfect robot!
Will be fun to try and beat it!!

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

It doesn't even have to be able to move that much really. Long as it can prove it can still move a little every few seconds, it could just stick itself there and wait.

[razerdave]

That would be the worst thing to happen to this class: a robot you couldn't touch because it had a FBS and it wouldn't move if you even tried attacking it.

Sorry Pete, but this design must be killed. In the face.