[Al Skierkiewicz]

Many teams have used belt drives in the past. They need less maintenance and are quieter. They are much more difficult in some designs to replace though. (Most belting doesn't allow you to thread one end through the drive system and then connect the ends together) Teams have been able to use toothed belts and sprockets to great advantage in the past. While the robot rules have not been released for 2012, I would not expect a change making belting illegal. Please check the rules when they are published. Be aware, that belts can inflict personal injury the same way chain can. This might require some protection of the mechanism to prevent injuring anyone who will be exposed to the mechanism, including field volunteers.