Very simple: "Center of Gravity", or CG, is where all the mass of an object can be considered to be concentrated.
Look in the above picture. This Robots CG is too high and combined with the angle of the ramp has caused the CG to fall
outside of where the treads make their point of contact. Yes, the Robot is tipping over. Robot go Boom. I understand
that there was little damage and the man inside was not injured.
To prevent such accidents the CG must be kept as low as possible. This
is why SUVs often flip and Jaguars do not. To this end the weight and height of the CG of every part must be known so
that the location of the Robot's CG can be calculated. Its not that difficult. At the moment my Robot should be
able to climb 30 deg slopes without falling over. This is because the tread section has many heavy parts like motors,
differentials and batteries. It alone weighs over 200 lbs!
And if your robot is capable of moving
under its own power it is even more critical that the CG be kept low: A strong motor starting or stopping suddenly can cause
a robot with a high CG to topple over even on a flat surface!
At a recent stack up I tried to see how far back things could lean. In this
picture the Torso is empty and there are no batteries in the Tread section.
