Omni-tracks
kennedyjd
Entry ID #: 6154
Created: Mon, Jan 14, 2019 8:18 PM
We’re from TechnoLions and will be presenting our new part idea, Omni-tracks. Omni-tracks are a very convenient way to get over obstacles they’re not really meant for speed, they’re more meant for agility. The Omni-track is very much like a track, just with Omni-track characteristics. For this year’s game it is also very helpful for going over the blue bars, or if you can think of any other obstacles. Different robots probably struggle in different places. For example, our robot isn’t fast, but it is able to move around harmlessly. One of our other teams goes fast, but I notice that it’s very bumpy. We are going to tell you about scenarios where the Omni-track helps. I’m going to tell you about some situations that the Omni-track would be more useful than a traditional Omni-wheel. First of all, Omni-wheels are difficult to maneuver over the blue bars on the ground in this competition, but tracks are very easy to maneuver over them. So usually you would be forced to choose over Omni-wheels or tracks, but with these you would be able to have both without having any sort of contraptions that would slow the robot down. For another thing, Omni-wheels sometimes have problems distributing weight evenly, but since Omni-tracks would be longer, less pressure would be distributed onto each segment of the Omni-track. This would balance the robot out more than Omni-wheels would. Another problem would be that when trying to move over objects with the Omni-wheel it usually gets stuck. It won’t move over even the slightest bumps on the field. This is caused because there is nothing helping the Omni-wheel move over it. Because a track easily moves over the blue bumps in this competition, an Omni-track would help tremendously in giving the robot leverage. This means that it would lean forward before it could get stuck, allowing the Omni-track to move over these objects with ease. I had a talk with a member from another team and asked them what other problems they had found with Omni-wheels, I first talked to Cannon from the team Bot Bosses, and he said, “When you try to stop turning with Omni-wheels, you keep turning slightly due to the non-motorized mini wheels on the side of the Omni-wheels. Omni-tracks could fix this problem because they have a wider base and won’t slide around as easily. The version of software we used to create the part is the latest on the TinkerCad website (as of Jan 15, 2019). We did not see any other version information. This concludes our presentation of the Omni-track. It is agile, and great for all robots. We think that Omni-track would be a major help, for obstacles, and other problems that robots all around the world have. We think that Omni-Wheels are very helpful, and mixing it with tracks, creates a very versatile, and amazing part. That is why we chose to make the Omni-track. We had so much fun making it, thinking of it, and everything in between. It is also so fun to watch the people celebrate if they win. It puts a positive feeling into the air. Overall, it was a great experience, and something definitely worth doing. Note: This is one of the team coaches submitting. The authors / creators of the design and writeup are the 26149B (TechnoLions) team.