I'd like to call out a few teams that inspired our team and got us interested in trying a project like this.
JVN and 148 released lots of information about their Nonadrive after the 2010 season, including the
CAD model and a lengthy
build season journal.
Madison and 488 put out lots of great pictures, videos, and answers to questions on their
Octocanum drive starting in 2011, with an
update in 2012. We've seen a bunch more octocanums since then, and I think 488 has a lot to do with that. I don't know if they were the first to do it, but the info they put out was awesome and caught a lot of peoples' attention.
Team 1625 put out info on their
Lobster Drive last year, and I thought it was a mind-blowingly elegant way of turning a 6 wheel drive into a strafing machine without any extra motors.
I'm not saying these are on the first teams to ever conceive of a hybrid drive (I honestly don't know), but these are the ones who put out a whole bunch of information that we could devour and ponder. And they are all awesome teams who make awesome robots. My students and I really appreciate the openness these teams displayed with their designs, and we definitely learned a lot from them!