How do we figure out gear ratios? Here's an example: If you have two gears, a smaller one with 13 teeth and a larger one with 21 teeth, the gear ratio is 21/13 or 1.62/1 or 1.62.1. Gears are everywhere that you find engines and motors producing rotational motion. You probably have an electrical power meter on the side of your house, and if it has a see-through cover, you can see that it contains 10 or 15 gears. Wind-up, grandfather and pendulum clocks contain plenty of gears, especially if they have bells or chimes.
LEGO BATTLEBOTS FULL
If you looked inside a VCR, you would see that it is full of gears. For example, car engines and transmissions contain lots of gears. (The following information is also provided in the presentation.)Ĭoncept of Gear Ratio: You see gears in just about everything that has spinning parts.
![lego battlebots lego battlebots](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/lego-battlebots/images/3/39/Toro.jpg)
Parameters can include, power, wheel size, gear ratio and weight. (Show the presentation to review the concepts.)įor today's challenge, each team will be given a specific amount of points that you can spend modifying your robots. What makes these cars so powerful or fast? Have you heard of concepts like torque, power, friction or gear ratio? Well, let's learn what we need to know to prepare our battle bots for a tug of war game against each other. We will build our own tractor pullers out of LEGO to try to pull our opponents over the line. And-that is exactly what this activity is about. Big trucks and tractors can PULL heavy loads (have power), but cannot go fast. So if we combined the two activities, what properties would we find in the winning car? (Listen to student suggestions, and then list the characteristics of both winners at each activity.) Sports cars go FAST (have speed), but cannot pull any weight. (In advance, be prepared to show students the 16-slide Tug of War Battle Bots Presentation, a PowerPoint® file.)Īnyone who has ever played tug of war knows that the winner is usually the stronger or heavier of the two and if you have watched drag racing, you know that the fastest car wins the race. Describe the concept of torque and its application to the activity.Ĭopyright © 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA.Explain that the solution to an engineering problem may be reached by many ways.Identify gear ratios and the significance of each to the solution of a problem.
![lego battlebots lego battlebots](https://www.mochub.com/sites/default/files/styles/moc_tile_mobile_tablet_1x/public/2020-12/img_4744.jpg)
Knowledge of these concepts enables systems to run more efficiently and safely.Īfter this activity, students should be able to:
LEGO BATTLEBOTS MANUAL
Gear ratios also play important roles in the operation of cars, which use automatic and manual transmissions to adjust the torque output to suit the terrain. Mechanical engineers encounter torque in many systems, such as cars. The winning robot, the one with the best adjustments, pulls the other across the line. The robots face each other on a track with a string attaching one to the other. Teams modify two robotic LEGO® MINDSTORMS® vehicles by changing their gear ratios, wheel sizes, weight and engine power, while staying within a limit of points to spend on modifications. Students are introduced to the concepts of torque, power, friction and gear ratios.