GLADIATOR

Gladiator was powered by two massive REV Robotics NEO motors that gave it a top speed of 60mph. The motors were chained to the front wheels, meaning that it was front-wheel drive, preventing it from flipping over under rapid acceleration. These motors also had very high torque, allowing Gladiator to make impressively steep climbs. It accelerated nearly instantly, making it the perfect tool to showcase how exciting STEM can be.

To minimize the number of moving parts, Gladiator used a unique type of steering known as "cheese drive" which alternates the power of wheels in different increments and pulses to induce steering. This system greatly reduced complexity and meant that we could focus on refining the motors and drive system before focusing on steering. However, cheese drive resulted in a very low turning radius, especially at low speeds. We could also partially use tank steering to turn in place, but this caused significant wear to the rear wheels.

Since Gladiator was the first iteration, we knew that we had to keep the car simple and easy to maintain. We had to learn how to set up the electronics, which meant that we could not afford to spend time dealing with mechanical issues as well. Gladiator's chassis is open and easy to disassemble, and the car features as few moving parts as possible. Although the bodywork was difficult to assemble, it was incredibly strong and rarely broke. However, the weight of the motors hanging off of the chassis proved to be too much of a strain on the connection points, causing them to bend. We resolved this in future iterations by attaching everything to a large baseplate.