Re: robot speed
 

I don't think planning a speed now will get you a head start. Unless you are mounting your wheels directly on the transmission output shaft (West Coast Drive style), it is really easy to change speeds; all you need to do is swap sprockets.

Re: robot speed
 

OK, I'll say it .......

IMHO, a top speed of 10-12 fps is a good place to start if your kicking around ideas about generic robot designs. A robot that can do this will be somewhere in the high middle of the pac as far as it's ability to beat a competitor from point A to point B on the playing field. Chances are that if there's any serious pushing to be done, you'll need to add a two speed gearbox to your design to get the torque back.

Re: robot speed
 

the kitbot sprocket setup last year came to about 15 feet per second. it was really fast and we mostly blocked with our sides since we had a caster drive (the front had casters and the back two wheels were the drive wheels)

Re: robot speed
 

I don't know where that number came from; the kit drive system last year was geared to a maximum speed of 7.24 ft/s. Of course, that is just a theoretical top speed that doesn't take into account drive system inefficiencies, and the actual top speed is probably somewhere in the fives.

Re: robot speed
 

umm... well our way of measuring it consisted of this: having a team member(in cross country) run down a narrow hallway of 20 feet long at the speed at which we thought the robot went at. and then timing:ahh: :ahh:

rookie tip: whatever you do, be more prepared than we were..:]

Re: robot speed
 

Why not have the robot do it instead?

Re: robot speed
 

well the pit crew was trying to make it work :D
I was with the programmer because he needed the speeds for autonomous mode: ours consisted of driving across the field and waiting to defend against other robots.

-vivek

Re: robot speed
 

The best head start you can have is to get to know the tools and develop the skills that will help you do it quickly and efficiently once you get all of the information at kickoff.

Rule of thumb in picking a ratio... let the kitbot be your guide. If you want to be fast, be faster than the kitbot. If you want to be a pusher push harder than the kitbot. So for now, just plan on one reduction that you can easily change to hit any of the speeds discussed.

Re: robot speed
 

ok im sorry but we are rednecks we all have 4 wheel drive suvs and go muddin and then also rid cheap plastic quads down snow bank hills and we made are robot is a two car grudge listen to country and are town is a small town with onle about 900 kids in ar school. and then some how we got a bike stuck 3 to 4 feet feet deep in mud...... i dont no what you think red necks are but for team in the middle of Connecticut i think we are pretty "red neck".

o yes i do stink a spelling so dont correct me please....

Re: robot speed
 

and im not talking down my team we all love it and are have amazing fun and redneck is not a bad thing

Re: robot speed
 

Well, I just learned something. Connecticut rednecks! Who knew? My apologies. :o

Re: robot speed
 

To stay on topic --

The whole speed vs. control is greatly recognised in an FTC match. Many students, when left to themselves, design their drive trains separate from the rest of the robot. So maybe they design the bots to use the large wheels with a 1:1 ratio or tiny wheels with only 1 motor per side. Then they add all of the mass of the steel and nuts and bolts above their drive train and get very lackluster performance out of it.

This is why I think that if you must go single-speed, 10fps is a good speed to aim for in FRC. Smaller wheels give you slower speed but more torque by design, and combined with a medium gear ratio will allow for decent accleration with only 1 motor per side after you've added all of the weight above it. If you make it 2 motors per side, you might even win some pushing matches.

Re: robot speed
 

sorry about that all with the redneck thing a friend did it i didnt sorry...

Re: robot speed
 

Perhaps either you or your "friend" should start using punctutaion and capitalization. Right now your typing is remarkably similar.

Re: robot speed
 

Winnovation had a 4 wheeled 3 speed shift-on-the-fly coaxial swerve drive and that was great for awesome defense and good scoring capability, very controllable as well when it wasn't freaking out. :D