another take on a wedge design with what appears to be a bumper guard on the back.

you can make it long to dsitribute the weight over a wide area and is low to the ground.

isnt the front gonna be a wedge anyway, how would be easier to flip?

there is always that $5 app we found last class.

scroll down to the bottom of this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_(mechanical_device) to get the mechanical adavtage of a wedge formula.
It looks like the bigger the wedge the better advantage you have

http://www.nxtprograms.com/mini_sumo/index.html

good design

how would this work on the figure 8 track, Wouldnt it would only follow one half of the track?

it would work on the other tracks if the robot dosent drive off the line a lot.

click on the arrow next to nxt files, and the third icon is for uploading saved data from the nxt to the computer

1.Click the Select a VI icon or text on the Functions palette.

2.Navigate to the VI that logged the front panel data and place it on the block diagram.

3.Right-click the VI and select Enable Database Access from the shortcut menu. A yellow box that looks like a file cabinet appears around the VI.

4.Right-click the record # terminal and select Create»Control from the shortcut menu. LabVIEW adds a numeric control to the front panel you use to enter a record number.

5.Right-click the invalid record # terminal and select Create»Indicator from the shortcut menu. LabVIEW creates a round LED that indicates whether the record is valid.

6.Right-click the front panel data terminal and select Create»Indicator from the shortcut menu. LabVIEW creates a cluster that contains the front panel data.

7.Right-click the time stamp terminal and select Create»Indicator from the shortcut menu. LabVIEW creates a cluster that contains the time stamp value.

8.Run the VI. The front panel cluster and time stamp cluster return the data to the front panel of the current VI, according to the record number wired at the input. It also returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the indicated record number is invalid

the bottom two charts are good. It does make it go considerably faster

This is probably the best for speed and power(torque). The robot would be front wheel drive based on that if the nxt is on the back with the wheels the robot would flip or slide down due to the weight on the downhill side of the robot not the uphill side(assuming the track is at 22.5 degress

This shows us the torque of the motor. Yes we have 9 volt batterys, the bottom of the page next to a picture are some gear ratios.

we could use light snesor to pick up light emitting from the homebase

dirt detection and how it works

how cliff detection works and what kind of sensors are used