View Single Post
  #22   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 27-06-2012, 18:24
EricH's Avatar
EricH EricH is offline
New year, new team
FRC #1197 (Torbots)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: SoCal
Posts: 19,807
EricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond reputeEricH has a reputation beyond repute
Re: pic: Chameleon Drive

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikemat View Post
If you shipped as pictured in 6 or 8wd configuration, all you would need to bring would be the mecanum wheels. A slide drive would be harder because you would need an extra gearbox and motor controller, but not impossible with 30 pounds. I can't speak for driver training, but judging from the teams that already switch mid season, it isn't impossible to adjust to a different drive.
Modular systems are allowed on a robot, but if a robot can have extra configurations--example, two arms that have different functionality--either you stick with one configuration (or do a permanent change and request reinspection) or all the configurations together must be under the weight limit. That's been in the rules for as long as I can remember.

The governing limit here isn't the Withholding Allowance. It's the robot weight. I don't think that most teams would like cutting into the 120# allowance by 15# or more.


However, I think this sort of drive system could be invaluable to a team, not necessarily in competition use but as a practice robot. Build it Day 1, throw a bunch of tests at it to figure out drive base for the year, use as a practice defender or build the rest of the robot on top of it. It's not unheard of for a competition robot to be designed to handle two different types of drivetrain, but only use one in competition.
__________________
Past teams:
2003-2007: FRC0330 BeachBots
2008: FRC1135 Shmoebotics
2012: FRC4046 Schroedinger's Dragons

"Rockets are tricky..."--Elon Musk

Reply With Quote