[GeeTwo]

I had noticed that the VIAIR 100c came into spec upon reading the rules the first time through, because in December I was researching parts and noticed that it was just over the line. Last year, a 100% duty cycle compressor was a must if you were using pneumatics to stack totes, because a good stacker would run the tote lift alone a dozen cycles or more per match, and the lift of five totes and an RC over the last tote last cycle in each stack would require about than 50 ft-lb of energy. Even if you manage the air use, you'd need a lot of it.

This year, like 2013 Ultimate Ascent, does not seem to call for such air-hungry robots. Even a great team is probably only going to cycle their boulder pickup and launch a dozen times per match, and each time it's moving one 10oz item (plus robot parts), not up to a half dozen 8 pound game pieces. If you do a pneumatic climb, that's going to have to be largely from the tank, due to the short duration which the robots are allowed to be tall. Unless you're doing a pneumatic powered intake or drive system, you shouldn't need to run the compressor continuously.

In 2013 we had a pneumatic triggered launcher (motors did the real work) and a mostly pneumatic climber. The only time we got the compressor so hot that we had a problem was when we were zeroing in the aim (running a dozen cycles a minute at times) and practicing the climb repeatedly. Even in the match where the pit crew forgot to close the quarter-turn exhaust valve, the compressor never really got hot as there was no back pressure.