Mousetrap Vehicle C

[mnoga]

It seems to me based on the two competitions that I've gone to that supervisors are likely to use Solo-style cups (light plastic, brightly colored, etc). You can try to make your cup-holder fit as wide a range of cup sizes as you can while making sure they're not going to escape being pushed to the CTL.

That was a minor issue at the Mira Loma Invitational, as the supervisor went to Costco the night before the event and bought some heavier and larger diameter cups than the Solo 16S. The issue is more about the weight of the cup, which might prevent you from crossing over the 3m line. It is probably a good idea to pick up several different cup designs and practice with those. Your cup holder could be flexible aluminum wire that could be bent in a few seconds to accommodate almost any size cup. If you go with what I call the fixed "V" or Trapezoid design, then I'd recommend testing with different cups to make sure the dowel touches the bottom of all your test cups.

I think they should standardize on the dimensions/weight of the cup, or use the Solo 16S at all competitions.

Thanks for your reply mnoga!
I completely agree with standardization of the cups to the Solo 16S. Would it be possible for us to submit a rules clarification to the national committee somehow?

I'll definitely try the aluminum wire design, my partner and I only fear that with our current design the car might somehow drag the cup back the Minimum cup distance of 0.5m, don't know if that's happened to anyone yet......

I'll check at our Team Meeting tonight to see what can be done.

I haven't seen any car drag a cup backward towards the VTP. In other words, the cup getting stuck in whatever mechanism you designed to hold the cup as it is being pushed towards the 3m line. In theory, odds of this happening should be almost zero with any decent design. You do want a pretty snug fit for your cupholder as you do not want the cup bouncing around left-right/right-left which creates more drag, loss of energy, and potential failure of the cup being deposited in front of the 3m line.

[Chameleon02]

That was a minor issue at the Mira Loma Invitational, as the supervisor went to Costco the night before the event and bought some heavier and larger diameter cups than the Solo 16S. The issue is more about the weight of the cup, which might prevent you from crossing over the 3m line. It is probably a good idea to pick up several different cup designs and practice with those. Your cup holder could be flexible aluminum wire that could be bent in a few seconds to accommodate almost any size cup. If you go with what I call the fixed "V" or Trapezoid design, then I'd recommend testing with different cups to make sure the dowel touches the bottom of all your test cups.

I think they should standardize on the dimensions/weight of the cup, or use the Solo 16S at all competitions.

Thanks for your reply mnoga!
I completely agree with standardization of the cups to the Solo 16S. Would it be possible for us to submit a rules clarification to the national committee somehow?

I'll definitely try the aluminum wire design, my partner and I only fear that with our current design the car might somehow drag the cup back the Minimum cup distance of 0.5m, don't know if that's happened to anyone yet......

I'll check at our Team Meeting tonight to see what can be done.

I haven't seen any car drag a cup backward towards the VTP. In other words, the cup getting stuck in whatever mechanism you designed to hold the cup as it is being pushed towards the 3m line. In theory, odds of this happening should be almost zero with any decent design. You do want a pretty snug fit for your cupholder as you do not want the cup bouncing around left-right/right-left which creates more drag, loss of energy, and potential failure of the cup being deposited in front of the 3m line.

I have myself seen cups being dragged backwards once the car starts reversing. This happened atleast twice at my recent invitational. The problem is a pretty easy fix, and with any hindsight or practice, it is easy to keep the cup from going backwards. I had the chance to look at these designs and saw the same minor flaw in each one. The cup holder was a little too snug and the cup slid in. The way we did it was just a simple V that pushed the cup and allowed flexibility but little room to go right or left
Keep the V near the base of the cup, as this will decrease the movement and keep the cup stable(I have also seen cups tip over)

[Rêveur]

Thanks for your reply mnoga!
I completely agree with standardization of the cups to the Solo 16S. Would it be possible for us to submit a rules clarification to the national committee somehow?

I'll definitely try the aluminum wire design, my partner and I only fear that with our current design the car might somehow drag the cup back the Minimum cup distance of 0.5m, don't know if that's happened to anyone yet......

I'll check at our Team Meeting tonight to see what can be done.

I haven't seen any car drag a cup backward towards the VTP. In other words, the cup getting stuck in whatever mechanism you designed to hold the cup as it is being pushed towards the 3m line. In theory, odds of this happening should be almost zero with any decent design. You do want a pretty snug fit for your cupholder as you do not want the cup bouncing around left-right/right-left which creates more drag, loss of energy, and potential failure of the cup being deposited in front of the 3m line.

I have myself seen cups being dragged backwards once the car starts reversing. This happened atleast twice at my recent invitational. The problem is a pretty easy fix, and with any hindsight or practice, it is easy to keep the cup from going backwards. I had the chance to look at these designs and saw the same minor flaw in each one. The cup holder was a little too snug and the cup slid in. The way we did it was just a simple V that pushed the cup and allowed flexibility but little room to go right or left
Keep the V near the base of the cup, as this will decrease the movement and keep the cup stable(I have also seen cups tip over)

Until the national committee standardized the cup dimensions I think having a variable / adjustable system would be best.

Unwinding two paperclips and using them as little guide arms that can be easily adjusted on the day off the tournament should work pretty well

[Lambs]

Is there a certain outline I need to use on the practice log?

[terence.tan]

The entire thing is the tread. We used these in robotics as intake wheels this year, and they are very grippy.

Really? It does not look that way. But if so, that is the way to go

that's what I was thinking. It's just that these I don't know how these wheels would react without being compressed a lot. In robotics, when we used them, the wheels were compressed quite a bit.
I would experiment with them, but they're so expensive.

I dont think it would be an issue

[JasperKota]

Is there a certain outline I need to use on the practice log?

Not that I know of, as long as you have the required minimum amount of logs, and require parameters you should be fine.

[Otkrlj]

On the practice logs when it says to recourd distance, do you recourd the distance you were off from the line or the distance you went to

[Alex-RCHS]

Has anyone else encountered the issue where as the lever arm slaps down, it jerks the vehicle off course? For me, it results in a 10cm difference which is huge. I've tried using foam to cushion the arm as it drops down to no avail. Any tips?

I was just thinking about this again and realized that you if you use a pulley system you can lower the length of your lever arm while keeping the total pulling distance the same. Doc Fizzix does it in this kit, I think.

[SciolyNewbieee]

What are to best type of wheels to use for the vehicle, currently I'm using cd wheels with balloons for friction. And do you think 2x18 inches is a good size for the vehicle?

[terence.tan]

What are to best type of wheels to use for the vehicle, currently I'm using cd wheels with balloons for friction. And do you think 2x18 inches is a good size for the vehicle?

The cds work alright. You might want to try banebots