We’ve recently begun testing our team’s robot. The robot has randomly shut down a couple of times and we are trying to figure out why. We have found that after using the launcher for a long period of time that upon touching the robot we are getting zapped. It’s pretty strong.
I was wondering if the flywheel is acting like some sort of Vandergraaf generator? Anybody else getting zapped? We didn’t have this problem when testing the flywheel alone, before it was on the robot, but during that time we usually maintained contact with the launcher and we were not operating it on foam tiles.
If the humidity is low, driving on foam tiles can get electrifying. Some teams have sprayed static guard, like Cling Free, etc. on their fields to help reduce the static. Keeping the humidity from getting too low might help, too. I don’t know about flywheels generating static by themselves - that’s an interesting possibility.
we are having problems because of static buildup in the IME’s. things cut out with any more than 2 plugged in at a time. I’ve definitely been shocked a few times.
I don’t know the science behind it, but we get full one inch zaps between the field and the robot, and also when we touch the robot after running the flywheel for awhile we get a pretty strong shock. Be careful not to touch your LCD if you have reasons to believe your robot is holding a static charge, it makes the whole screen go black! it recovers after a power cycle though i would just make sure to always discharge the static before touching any sensors or anything.
i would just make sure to always discharge the static before touching any sensors or anything.