CHANGE OF GEARS FOR NEXT YEAR

[DaBruteForceGuy]

I heard that FIRST is thinking about morphing the specs to make things a little bit more intetresting in the feild. U see i heard that they alterred the additional parts list NOT to include WHEELS!
They will also specify in the rules that no object of which having no vertecies or flat axcis will be permitted to come in contact with the ground at any time! Also no infinite flowing surfaces (belts, treds, wheels) may be used for propulsion on the feild.
(walking bots permitted)
Now that complicates things abit eh?

[Nate Smith]

All I can say is look at what forum this is posted in...this one goes around every year or so...

[Clark Gilbert]

One rumor i heard was that only skyway wheels will be allowed. This means that there wont be any treads or modified/custom created wheels...

I guess they could do this to either make the game interesting or even the playing field for robot drive bases....

Originally posted by Clark Gilbert
One rumor i heard was that only skyway wheels will be allowed. This means that there wont be any treads or modified/custom created wheels...

I heard the exact same rumor too, probably I was standing near Clark when I was told it, but the rumor came from a high influencial FIRST person

Im sure I have a lot of support about saying that it would totally suck if FIRST ONLY allowed Skyway wheels

[Dave Hurt]

Well, after how bad the carpet was torn up this year, I could see their reason behind it. I'm against it, but what must be done and all that....

[Don]

Some of the most interesting designs that teams have had involve drivetrains, like chiefdelphi's swerve drive and technokat's cleats. It would be a shame if they tried to limit it.

[Rob Colatutto]

your saying limit it only to those wheels you get in the kit??

[Jeff Waegelin]

No, not to the wheelchair wheels, but to wheels from Skyway. They make those wheels, but they also make other kinds of wheels for various purposes. Some are very good for traction and such on a robot, but I still would prefer allowing custom wheels.

[RicNic_team930]

if they were concerned with the carpet why not get rid of it and play on tiles or concrete. we couldn't rip that up to easy and it would make traction different

[mtaman02]

Well what can I say for the past 11 - 12 Years FIRST has proved to change itself and the rules to make the game more exciting. personally liming propulsion devices is taking it a bit to far. It would be a shame to Team 47 change its beautifully designed drive train.

[Ian W.]

the major problem is that if the concrete somehow does get smashed up, you can't duct tape it down. carpet is easy fix, then during lunch, or some other break, a more detailed fix up. concrete, well, break that, and yuo need to stop for at least 5 - 10 minutes, maybe more, depending on how bad it's smashed. therefore, carpet will probably be the surface for next year.

[Rob Colatutto]

we can duct tape concrete down.....FIRST can figure anything out, but i do want to make my own custom wheels again next year, i don't like any of those wheels they give you in the kit

Originally posted by Don
Some of the most interesting designs that teams have had involve drivetrains, like chiefdelphi's swerve drive and technokat's cleats. It would be a shame if they tried to limit it.

It would be a shame to limit the excellent drivetrains like the cleats, swerve, and the kiwi just for a few dollars to fix a square foot a carpet...hey heres a game for next year, see how much carpet you can destroy. I could pick out many possibilities for national champions right now

[DaBruteForceGuy]

if the concrete somehow does get smashed up, you can't duct tape it down. carpet is easy fix, then during lunch, or some other break, a more detailed fix up. concrete, well, break that, and yuo need to stop for at least 5 - 10 minutes

I work with concrete a lot with the construction conpany i work for and i know what it is like to bash up a concrete sidewalk with a sledge hammer. Even swinging a sledge hammer over my head and clobbering concrete with all the 170lbs of pure muscle i am just breaks it apart. For a 130lb robot with limited violence factors and certain hardnesses of materials, even if the disigner disign it with the intent to distroy concrete, it would be incomprehencible and radically impossible!
I know you are probably also afraid of chipping, concreat is mixed and made with different materials and certain mixing rates combined with wate,rfor different harnesses pf the surface. so in conclusion, it would be very improbable that concrete would be chipped by a bot like that!
thus eliminating the need for a "quick fix)

[Aaron Lussier]

One rumor i heard was that only skyway wheels will be allowed. This means that there wont be any treads or modified/custom created wheels...

Granted its only a rumor but if enough people say that, the rumor might just soon become truth. That would be horrible, I spent so much time on my teams wheels, there is NO way FIRST would do that, although it would be pretty fun to build a walker that can move 15 feet a second.Who knows