Quote:
Originally Posted by squirrel
actually it's exactly the same! you won't gain any power on a car by lightening components, you'll just gain acceleration.
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You DO gain horsepower & torque from the standpoint of the wheels from lightening rotating components but ONLY during acceleration. When a car/robot is accelerating it takes torque to accelerate the rotating assemblies. This is torque that could otherwise be available at the wheels. If the machine is spinning at a constant speed, the full power & torque of the motor is available at the wheels because nothing internally is being accelerated. F=ma You would be surprised at how much horsepower a car looses due to accelerating the wheels, diff, driveshaft, transmission, engine, water pump, alternator etc. The acceleration is essentially wasted as it doe not contribute to the forward motion of the vehicle. I have never done the math on a FIRST robot, but i can say for sure that the savings on a car are VERY significant. Rotating components must be accelerated twice, in rotation and in forward motion.