Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
This.
The big change that happened in (2013?) was the new frame perimeter rules. Prior that we had max dimensions in each direction and it meant you were either building a wide bot that was unstable front to back or a long bot that had a longer wheel base[1]. With the change to a 112" perimeter we were able to optimize differently. Example - 125 ran a 6 wheel flat drive in 2014[3] and had no issues turning because we were effectively 28x28, and when looking at actual points of contact, much wider than we were long.
2015 allowed teams to do whatever they wanted.
Personally, I hope to see a return to frame perimeter rules as it is both easier to inspect than transporting a box[2] and allows teams more flexibility to optimize their chassis shape.
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I think the 112" frame perimeter rule was an evolution to FRC design that I'm pretty sure was universally lauded. I really hope to see that return in 2016.
My biggest regret in 2014 was not running a flat 6-wheel because with a robot would have had a wheelbase of around 22" that year, I think. The reason I cited Daisy Thunder is because a Hall of Fame team took the opportunity with the 112" rule in 2013 to develop a 4 wheel drive and looking at results, they must have liked it well enough.
There is a lot of inertia when it comes to FRC strategic design. That's mostly a good thing. Now is a good of time as any to go out (or in... to your shop) and build and test something like this and see how it goes. In fact, I'm probably going to look into crashing something like this together!
This is a great thread, by the way.