Chassis

Mice have been built from metal, plastic and wood. You should feel comfortable working with the material you choose for your chassis. First time designers should use a system that will make it easy to move and change parts.

Try to keep the center of gravity low by placing the motors and batteries near the bottom of the chassis. On the other hand, don't make the chassis so low that it can get caught on the seams of the maze. One of the mazes we competed in had steps as large as 5 mm (not 0.5 mm as stated in the rules).

Make sure the chassis is small enough to fit within the cell with plenty of room for correction to either side. The problem is not when the MicroMouse is heading down a straight section but rather when it makes a turn. Since most mice make their turns blind (without the use of their sensors), the mouse will sometimes turn too tight or too wide and wind up too close to one of the walls. A narrow chassis will have room to recover without scraping the walls. Also, if your robot uses the wheelchair design, make sure that it can rotate in place, even if it is a little off-center.