Quote:
Originally Posted by fox46
I have to say I too am extremely dissapointed with banebots but also with FIRST for eliminating all the great motor options we used to have- Two FP motors, Globe motors, Van door, Keyang, seat motors. KOPs from the past used to have such a variety of power options, now all we have are little screamers that whizz along at 20000 RPM (aside from the sacred CIMs). I am sure it has made life much harder for many rookie teams and those short on resources.
It is my firm belief that banebots donated the motors to FIRST in hopes of it generating business for their company. What do you do with a motor that has a 20000 RPM output? The only logical solution given our weight and size restrictions is a planetary reduction. Who has the planetary reductions?
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Why do you really need to gear the motor(s) that slow? The
slowest shaft on our 2011 robot only needs a three-stage reduction, and that's our drive train in low gear. All other mechanism shafts on our robot spin well over 1000 rpm at nominal load. None of these are accomplished via planetary gear reductions, but rather via simple spur gear or timing belt speed reductions.
Seriously, with the FP and "choose any four" BaneBot offer, I absolutely love the motor selection this year. There are up to nine motors you can use on your robot that output over 250 Watts each! Compared to ~85 Watts for Globe, and less than 50 W for any past Window motor, this year's motor selection is the best I've ever seen (since 2004). No other year has a team been able to throw over 1000 Watts into a manipulator and not sweat taking away drive train performance. While some may question the sanity of one kiloWatt manipulators,
if you want to fly on water, you need power!
Quote:
Originally Posted by fox46
Unfortunately I don't think Banebots anticipated the demand for their product and as a result the teams are paying the price in lost build time. I applaud Banebots for donating the motors for the KOP but I am furious that due to a lack of other options we have essentially been forced to buy their products to build our robots. What's next? CIMs replaced by RS775s? All they have to do is donate a couple more RS775s with some CIMulators and FIRST will nix the CIMS. Then they have a monopoly on the motor supply to all teams and we are at their mercy.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope