[Will Hanashiro]

team 322 has been using shift-on-the-fly now for a couple years. in 2002 we had a three speed transmission and this year we had a two speed transmission using six motors. Both years we used a planetary gear box system. we also used the pneumatic air cylinders to shift, and we also found that forcing the gears to shift caused teeth to break and eventually cause them to go bald. we found that a simple solution to this is to program a split second no power delay to the motors. if you shift while there is no powers to the motors, then the gears will hold out. therefore, stopping is not needed, and the program stops the motors but the momentum will keep the robot moving.