ARROW
Arrow is the current flagship car that we use for demonstrations across the community. It uses two REV Robotics NEO Brushless Motors and is rear-wheel drive. It's powered by a REV Robotics control hub, which we can connect to and drive the car. A large baseplate at the bottom, to which everything is mounted, serves as a chassis. The motors are each connected to a gearbox which then connects to the rear wheels. The front wheels are free spinning and are used to turn.
Built to crash
Inevitably, Arrow crashes often. Whether it's one of the team or some of the students that we work with, someone eventually crashes it. Previous designs were far less crash-resistant. The wings and steering column were redesigned to prepare for crashes. While the old front wing took nearly 16 hours to 3D print, a new front wing can be quickly made ready in under 4 hours. The rear wing was also an unnecessarily large 3D print, which was swapped out for a simpler design that was easier to print.
Robust and responsive steering
The steering is powered by a servo connected to ball linkages that move the independent steering blocks on the side of the car. The current design incorporates two long, machined pieces of aluminum holding the steering blocks in place. Previously, they were held together by two steel beams, which offered too much room for movement and collapse in the event of a crash. The new pieces offer a much more stable connection. The primary software task of F0 was steering correction. Since its nearly impossible to keep the car programmed to move in a straight line, we had to compensate for steering that wasn't aligned perfectly. After many hours of testing and countless painful crashes, the steering correction now can keep Arrow moving exactly as we need it to,
Formula 1 inspiration
While in previous generations of F0, aesthetics took a backseat and we were more focused on getting a functioning car, Arrow takes heavy aesthetic inspiration from Formula 1 cars. We focused on making a reliable car that excited people.
