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Re: CHIPS
First off, good post. We haven't had one of these in a while. Next, Matt Adams I have one small correction to your motor power calcs for the drill with and without gearboxes. The available mechanical power when you have a gearbox must be lower than the motor by itself due to the efficiency losses. I know you know this because you accounted for them (the reason the drill/drill high/drill low all have different power numbers at the 40 amp limit), but you show that the drill in low has more power than the drill in high and the drill by itself ... no way is that possible. I think you may have transposed the data, but the drill by itself has to have more available mechanical power than with a gearbox ... Efficiency losses.
Next, shifting and multiple motors (per side) are not a must. However, I think you must use one or the other. If you don't want multiple motor drives, then shift. If you don't want to shift, then use multiple motor drives. We shifted and had multiple motors in 2003, but we only used multiple motors in 2004 and we had no noticeable difference in time to the center of the field and pushing performance. With that said, 2002 was a different story. In 2002, the really competitive teams had to shift gears and use multiple motors (and yes, I consider switching drive trains the same as switching gears). My rule of thumb is that switching gears coupled with multiple motors is not necessary when transferring weight to your robot is not possible. When a significant amount of weight can be transferred to your robot, then I recommend doing both. Use multiple motors if your overall design allows for it, because it will help your drive train.
-Paul
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