# Frame

- Need 4 pieces if 2x1 for base   
    
    - - .100 or thicker = thick wall (Good for chassis for durability and high impact surface
- Bellypan 
    - Has many grommit holes to allow for elec components to mount, and has holes for mounting onto chassis and save weight. Known as pocketing
    - Laser cut by sponsors
    - Typically 1/16" to 1/4" in thickness
    - Thicker bellypans have smoother driving due to lower center of mass (COM is VERY important)
- Mounting tubes integrated in the middle for mounting subsystems and increasing overall durability 
    - Connected to core 2x1s by gussets
- Place battery first when designing drivetrain as it is the heaviest so you can take COM into account (important for deciding how smooth your robot can drive)
- Tungsten sheets are heavy and good for COM, but very expensive (Insert mcmaster carr tungsten sheet price pic)
- When designing your drivebase, your main goal should be maximizing COM while maintaining efficient mass to incorporate toher subsystems in the future
- Acceleration is prioritized in games which require lots of change of direction and a need for a fast topspeed accumulation
- Tall robots which have a need for speed require heavier drivebases to maintain balance
- If geared too tall, it means it takes too long to reach topspeed  
    
    - Robots geared too high will do better with pushing (kinda like torque) while bots geared for top speed won't (Speed is inverse of torque)