[Rick TYler]

More power.

1. Assume you are one of those amazingly well-equipped teams that can machine their own gearboxes.

2. Design gearboxes that use three CIMs per side.

3. Shifted one way, two small CIMs are geared down to run at the same speed as a large CIM. The output is run via a timing belt up to a single 8-inch shooting wheel (top launcher design for maximum backspin) running at roughly 2500 rpm. The speed is controlled by a feedback sensor.

4. The wheel is therefore driven by six CIMs.

5. Each transmission can be shifted into "Drive" where the motors are geared down appropriately to drive the 6WD chassis and disconnected from the shooting wheel.

Since the 'bot will not shoot on the move (really difficult anyway), the drive train can be used for either shooting OR moving.

What problem does this solve: the shooting wheel's recovery time drops as close to zero as possible. Weight is kept very low. Strong drivetrain.

Will anyone build a 'bot that uses the drive motors to power the shooting device? I'll bet I'm not the only one that thought of this.