Vanderbilt Robotics Team

We looked to make a few improvements to the motor plate from the year before. First, the previous motor plate only had one mounting point. This caused a lot of stress on the joint resulting in warping of the plate. Second, the tensioning for the pulley system would adjust by rotating the motor across the slot, and securing it with a bolt as a friction fit. This was not good as it kept loosening as the robot drove around, reducing tension in the pulley. To solve the first issue, we added a second mounting point and a beefier piece of aluminum (1/4" thick), which prevented the warping. For the tensioning system, we initially considered switching to a chain and sprocket system to prevent any slipping however due to the terrain, we determined that we did want some slipping with a pulley system to prevent motor overload. It also wasn't the appropriate testing system due to the risk of sand or dirt clogging the chain. We implemented a dynamic tensioning system by slotting 2 bearings outside the pulley, moving the bearings across the slot, until the pulley was tensioned, and bolting it down.