New Research Recap
Mounting Solutions
Chassis and Mounting
- Apart from bolts, latches/mounting quick release pins/aluminum extrusion rails are super good options for mounting mechanisms for sub systems
...
- Shoulder bolts or pins can be used to mount frames to chassis
Carbon Fiber
Mounting Carbon Fiber Tubes
...
- Check out Carbon Fiber Q&A
- Weight savings may not be actualized due to complex mounting solutions
Drivetrain Design
- 4 wheel vs 6 wheel design still in discussion Flexible Drivetrain Design
- Lots of great research into the different types of suspensions used by other teams, but more discussion on what kind of objects we will need to traverse is required
- TBH all design options seem viable if done right, its more so just figuring out what our team wants to do
Wheels
- Research covered in Wheel Construction
- Offroad ATV's offer some great design inspo, where rear wheels have "sand paddles" for better driving, and smooth tires would be used on the front of the rover
Moving Previous Research
- previous research on 4 vs 6 wheel research was conducted
- research into beach tires were conducted, with some motor requirements
- previous research into carbon fiber was conducted as well to compare it to aluminum, with some fittings from McMaster spec'd out as well
Motor Integration Research
- Direct drive is great, as you don't need a power transmission system, although they require custom wheel hubs to use
- Chain drives are probably a better alternative to belt drives, as they require more maintenance but are easier to work with
- More motor research needs to be conducted
Prototyping Plan
- Start with 3D printed prototypes for drivetrain configurations
- move to wood (constructed remotely) and figure out what exactly we want to learn from it
...
- Motor selection
- Determine approximately the torque/speed requirements
- Find some motor and gearbox candidates
- MATLAB learning, prepare basic simulations → Rehnuma, Asha, Elizabeth, Ali
- Make a basic rocker bogie
- Confluence page
Overall Constraints
- 6 wheels has been confirmed for drivetrain
- We still need to quantify height of chassis above ground, but its likely that drivetrain width and length will be on the cusp of 1.2m by 1.2m box
Defining More Constraints
- How are other components gonna be mounted on chassis? namely comms and ebox, or potentially science