[Matt Reiland]

Originally Posted by BenSanders

I'm not a physics major but I have designed and built a two motor two speed pneumatic shifting gearbox and competed with it in competition. I think the two motor system helps but I think it could be argued that that much power is wasted on a FIRST robot. with only 130 lbs of robot there is no way that you can transfer all that tourque to the ground. Your wheels will spin out before your motors will stall. I think using one motor per side and adding some sort of skirt or other mechanism to transfer the weight of another robot to the ground is the way to win the pushing match not adding more motors. what does everyone else think?

I don't think that having a multiple motor drivetrain is wasted power. Maybe if you are using 2 wheel drive or slippery wheels. However, we were using treads and our robot last year was quite fast for a first robot, and in high the motors would be at stall if it encountered a pushing match. With only 2 motors you are severly limiting the power of your drivetrain. As debated before more motors can give you the same torque at a higher speed.