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Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
Dave,
I am going to make the assumption that this application is NOT a FIRST robot since what you are asking to do does not fit exactly the rulebook.
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Actually, yes it is for a FIRST bot. To be honest, I don't know the rules completely except what I've picked up from this forum.
Would you not be aloud to run one of the FIRST motors as a generator? Is there a restriction?
It's difficult for me to explain, but what I've been looking at is the Toyota Prius drive system and in some sense the ThunderChicken CCT from the previous year. The CCT uses two DC Motors with a planetary gear system to achieve a CVT (continuously variable transmission). The Toyota Prius does something similar. Toyota however uses the car's internal combustion engine (ICE, would be nice to have on a FIRST bot :-), a generator and a planetary gear system to also achieve a CVT. (The Prius has another DC motor that provides power assist, but that's not really important at this point.)
After haggling over the Prius stuff a bit, I posted a few times on CD and some one sent me the White Paper on the CCT. After reading through the Chicken white paper, the current draw appears to be a major issue (or more of a concern than an issue). It seems to me that if you just do like Toyota and instead of use two motors to drive the planetary gears in the CCT, you could run one motor as a generator and avoid the current draw problem.
Would that fall in line with FIRST rules?