Quote:
Originally posted by GregT
do all those motors really help? My team can not stall our motors, we have 2 and have tried with all our might to stall them- they just dont stop (wheels spin). I guess being so close to the weight limit has givin me a new view on motors 
Greg
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A few things that determine how a drive train perform: Motor power, ratio, traction, and efficiency.
In the case you describe, your wheels start slipping when you try stalling the motors. This happen because your robot don't have enough traction.
In order to take advantage of more motors in the drive train, your robot got to have enough traction to take advantage of the extra motor power. That is why robots like 45 technokat's, or 308's, or 60's all lift goals up for more traction. By putting more weight on the powered wheels, they won't be slipping as easily, and that's when the extra motor power come into play.
That's one thing I see in robots this year... It seems like teams underestimate how important lifting goals are. You can only get so much traction from 130 lbs even with the best material on wheels/tread. That is why teams made a big deal out of FIRST's change of rules when they allow 15 degree or more wedge shape to lift goals up.
Also, with more motors in the drive train, you can gear the drive train to go faster without tripping the circuit breakers as easily. As a result, the robot can go much faster with faster free speed. With more motors sharing the load, you are drawing currents on more circuit breakers. Besides, the main 60 amp circuit breaker can handle a lot more amps than 60 during the 2 minute.
So, over all, more motors do help the drive train in speed and pushing force. It take a little work to get them working together, but not too hard from what I heard from the engineers.