[Ben Piecuch]

Buzz (FRC175) built a "kicker wheel" design in 2000, and used the Van Door motor to rotate a smaller, higher traction wheel downward to lift the main driving wheels (8" skyways) off the ground. This was only a 2wd system.

The Bobcats (FRC177) built a similar "kicker wheel" design in 2002, but used the old seat motors with their 2" lead screws to drive the smaller wheel down. This design used a swingarm, made of 1.5" box aluminum, to lower a similar smaller, higher traction wheel downward to lift the main driving wheels (12" custom) off the ground. Again, this was only a 2wd system.

The HOT Bot (FRC67) also used a smaller, higher traction wheel design in 2002. However, their design was more static in nature, in that their robot weight was shifted onto these rear wheels when it grabbed a goal. It looked sort-of like a tractor pull when the front end got lifted a good 6-12 inches off the ground.

Clearly, the use of pneumatics was not as prominent back in the day. Today, it's a bit easier to implement such a system with the pneumatics. Grady, when are you going to give us a FIRST 101 on the origins of 2-speed robots?

BEN