Bottom Plate

The complete redesign of the robot asked also for a redesign of the bottom plate. The main changes are:

• Holes for the wheels
• Solenoid hole
• Front Assembly hole
• Screw holes

The bottom plate is made from DIN 1.403 stainless steel, this is done to create mass at the bottom to lower the centre of mass. This will help prevent the robot from making a backflip. Also, the material is chosen because of its strength. The drawing can be found here and is produced at MCM Marknesse.

On all screws that connect sub-assemblies to the bottom plate purple Loctite (222) is applied. During testing, it is noticed that screws are getting loose due to vibration and this should be prevented by using the thread locker. This all is to prevent losing parts during a game (see ssl-robocup rules). During the competition, no screw is lost and it was seen that other teams use the same Loctite as well. Also, this thread locker is the weakest of all the options, this allows us to still disassemble the robot using a screwdriver.

This year the team has switched to direct drive, more can be read on Wheel Assembly. This allows the mechanic's team to change wheel angles. The angle between the front wheels remains the same compared to last year's robot, namely 60 degrees. For the back wheels, the angle changes from 120 to 90 degrees. This will allow us to place the solenoid into our design.

To change the order for kicking and chipping at our solenoid, more can be read on Solenoid, we need to have an indent in the bottom plate. An indent is chosen instead of a hole is chosen to prevent the solenoid from the bottom. Furthermore, the core can rest on this indent and will be aligned to the holes of the holders by the use of the indent.

The hole for the Front Assembly, more can be read on Front Assembly, is used to allow the ball to reach the complete dribbler bar. Furthermore, the size is made to fit the new chipper plate without interfering with any other components.

Furthermore due to all the new changes the screw holes are changed to make sure every component can fit on the bottom plate at the right position.