|
Re: Shifting Gears
Also don't totally forget about another reason for multiple motors -
Redundancy.
We used 2 per side last year and had the drills fail twice in the season, the previous year the fisher price failed 3 times. However the robot kept on moving since more than one motor was linked to the drivetrain (Although one side had less power we were not a sitting duck that drives in circles)
For our robot last year with Tank Treads, we were able to use a version of the 45 design that gave us the power we needed to push hard and spin the tracks against an immovable object and in high cover the field at a very quick pace. Both of these would have been somewhat less if we didn't have both the motors teamed together. We still would have had a high and low but they would have been slower. Also anyone considering building a transmission should be lightening out all of the gears to a geat extent to reduce the weight so that the total added is much less than 8-9 pounds per motor. We have shown that 20 pitch gears can be lightened nearly 80% and still hold up to the duty required of them in a 130 lb Drivetrain for an entire season.
So I guess I disagree that more than one motor per side is a total waste in a FIRST robot, it all depends on what you want your robot to do. Too fast for some people is not too fast for others. I have seen many people in complete control of RC Nitro cars at over 50 MPH and I have seen others that can't drive straight a 5MPH.
__________________
Robonaut Next Generation Control System Development
2003 GLR Champions (302,67,226)
2003 Buckeye Semi-Finalists(902,494,226)
2002 Nationals QuarterFinalists
2001 West MI QuarterFinalists
2000 GLR Semi-Finalists
|