pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

Dimensionally it looks like a mash up of 2337 past and 148 current with design elements from 319, 3847 and 4183 to name a few. It is interesting to see that numerous Teams are looking at hexagonal Bots in the off season and graciously posting their designs.

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

I must need to get my glasses...

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

Don't forget 971's Freedom drive.

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

Not to nitpick - but this is an octagon ;)

I do wonder which is better for rolling out of defense - the point of a hexagon or the side of an octagon. We're going to play with similar designs this month and should hopefully have a good answer by December.

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

It may be worth trying a nonagon ;)

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Nonagons win world championships

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Small sample size...:rolleyes:

We had a couple of nonagons on our 2012 robot (hex shafts with some extra milling for prototypes that were left in place for production) and while we did make it further than we ever have, it definitely wasn't to Einstein...

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

What is Freedom Drive? I can't find any other mention of it on chief, and my team was thinking about naming our swerve that. But we don't want to steal 971's thunder.

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At Worlds I was talking to a student about their drivetrain, specifically the benefit of the center wheels being extended out and he told me they call it Freedom drive. Pretty cool name.

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That is the name that our kids decided upon for this year's drive so we would have something to tell the pit scouts when they came by. I don't think it was ever posted on CD (besides maybe our technical document), but if you stopped by our pits and asked what kind of drive we had, you probably got told a Freedom Drive.

A Freedom Drive is a close cousin of the west coast drive. It is characterized by a 6 wheel drive, an octagonal frame perimeter, dropped middle wheel, wide traction wheels in the middle, and narrow traction wheels at the ends. The preferred implementation includes a sheet metal frame, dead axles, and slippery fabric bumpers.

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

I prefer PAD to CAD. It's something that I can work with using my hands and kids don't need to know CAD to work with it. In fact, it'll help teach them basics before they get to a CAD class.

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

And here I've been telling my team PAD means Paper Aided Design...

Re: pic: PAD = Plywood Aided Design
 

I got to suggest to one of the TechnoKats students last week that he should try to CAD a prototype before trying to bend sheet metal into a shape he didn't quite have figured out yet.

Then I explained I was talking about Cardboard Aided Design.