This past weekend was the Pan-Pacific Tournament for the Vex Robotics Competition. This means that everyone across the pacific and California was able to meet and fight to see who had the best robot for the 2008-2009 Elevation challenge. This competition was a very good representation of the concept of friction. As you can see through this video, the wheels of each robot requires the friction of the foam mat to push back so the wheels don’t skid. This creates the forward force on the robot moving it forward. The cubes work the same way. The treads on the robots wouldn’t pick up the cube without the extra friction created through the normal force exerted by the zip-ties and parallel tread. The cube exhibits cooler interactions when placed into the triangular goal. It touches the sides decelerating the corner but not the rest of the cube. This causes the cube to rotate as it falls. Without friction this competition could be really cool but it would also make it almost impossible to stop, turn, or even start.
Thanks for reading, Mark.
At this competition team 2438 (Iolani) and 687j and 687k placed first overall.
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