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Re: New Techniques
My team did a similar review of practices, we changed a lot of our ideas about how to build a robot this year, and a lot of them turned out very well.
1) change from base plate, and 1/4 aluminum plate construction, to tubes rivets and gussets.
2) implemented CAN
3) changed from historically all bane bots on drive-train, to all andymark on drive-train
4) made an electronics box, that could be removed from the robot, rather than putting it all inside the frame.
i can say that all of these were good, but need better implementation, the frame was lighter than all of the plate frames we have done, it was faster to assemble, and easier to work on. the CAN had some problems, but we decided that in the future, we will try to use victors for any of the larger motors, and jags for the smaller motors, where more control will likely be needed. i loved our drive-train this year, it was fast, powerful and maneuverable, i was very happy with the tough-boxes and their performance. the electronics box was the only problem, while i still recommend having removable electronics, i think a box with the crio, digital sidecar / cars, and any other low current stuff in one box, and then another box with the motor controllers and other high current stuff.
if you do decide to make changes to your design, work them out preseason, research them thoroughly, and try to make them work well enough to set a new standard for your team.
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