Re: [mowbot] Chassis Material

Dave Everett (deverett nospam at vir.idx.com.au)
Fri, 7 Feb 1997 15:06:24 +1100

>
> Has anyone considered using LEGO pieces for their Mowbot chassis, or
> other parts of their MowBot. According to the FAQ, LEGO structures
> are quite strong. Seems that a robot chassis made of LEGO pieces
> epoxied together would be pretty tough, colorful, and weather
> resistant. Lots of different configurations could be made/tried.
> There are also a couple of competing products with LEGO like pieces,
> but on different scales and with different properties.

I think I'd be concerned about LEGO's ability to handle any sort of weight.
Also the type of surface that the Mowbot will be working on is not smooth,
this could cause the chassis to flex and eventually break.
>
> My chassis is aluminum but I have access to a metal shear and metal
> brake for forming pieces. Since that may not be the case for many
> MowBotHeads, some other material might work well.

I think the aluminium chassis is the way to go, it's cheap, light, easy to
fabricate and easy to mount to. It also provides some level of rust
resistance provided disparate metals are not used together.
>
>By the way, have you noticed the posts on news.comp.robotics.misc about really
>big robot lawn mowers, with gasoline engines, etc. What do you think?

That mower is obviously going to be fairly big. I can see a lot of value for
a large area (I believe one of the posters was talking about 10 acres). But
one of the reasons I like the mowbot idea is that it will be failry quite as
it's all electric.

Dave Everett.