DEWBOT II Drive Train
From DEW Robotics
Revision as of 19:55, 23 August 2009 by MaiKangWei (talk | contribs)
DEWBOT II possessed a 2-wheel drive (2wd) / rear-wheel drive Drive-train. This drive-train was generally satisfactory. The robot's concentration of mass aft (where the drives and ball lift live) kept the rear wheels weighted and thereby avoided DEWBOT IV's steering difficulties.
One CIM motor per side. Tank drive with Arcade control. KOP gearbox used with type 35 steel chain between drive and wheel sprockets. Encoders were installed on each of the drive wheel axles.
Undriven front wheels were originally swivels, but were changed to onmi wheels during the build season due to unsatisfactory performance of the swivels.
The standard KitBot frame was used, with the front U-channel replaced with a custom element to allow ball pick-up.
Drivetrain Strengths:
- driving / steering quite okay
- mechanically simple - simple to control - easy design to execute
Drivetrain Weaknesses:
- DEWBOT II was easily pushed off target
- it was very difficult to get up the ramp to score bonus points (only succeeded once)
- Center-of-Mass relatively high and off-center (aft)
