AndyMark - NEW "Modulox" Gear Boxes

[Colin P]

Seems good for teams who like to optimize their gear ratios. Could be set on a proto-bot, played around with for a while, and switched out for a custom. Teams who don't already make custom gearboxes don't exactly need to run to the store and shell out 800 bucks for a pair of what I'd only see useful as a prototyping aid.

[Brandon Holley]

To me the standout opportunity is for prototyping, but the unfortunate downside is the price, which would probably be higher than most people want to spend on prototypes.

I really like the concept, let me see if I can cook up something up that they may be more functional in...

-Brando

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

To me the standout opportunity is for prototyping, but the unfortunate downside is the price, which would probably be higher than most people want to spend on prototypes.

I really like the concept, let me see if I can cook up something up that they may be more functional in...

-Brando

Depends on how reusable it is really. $400-$600 isn't bad if I can use it over 4 years.

[AdamHeard]

I agree it's not well suited for the comp bots of many teams, but could be nice to have as a dedicated prototyping/practice bot gearbox/testbed.

The price/weight is too high for the reduction you get. Still an awesome concept though, just the weight margins on FRC competition bots are too thin.

[JesseK]

$10 says we'll see one on a competition robot this coming year.

[Andrew Remmers]

Originally Posted by JesseK

$10 says we'll see one on a competition robot this coming year.

It was already used on our bot this year!

We designed it into the gripper, Elevator gearbox (which is a custom form or modulox I called it Gemulox) and every single hole on the drive train was also machined to be able to hold the Modulox bearing blocks in the event we had to use it for something, Turns out we did for our minibot .

- Andrew

[Dan Richardson]

The theory behind the Modulox Gearbox is to provide an educational tool set and prototyping test bed as well as provide a competitive alternative to teams that would otherwise not be able to design or build their own gearbox. Practices widely used in industry such as designing for Modularity, Flexibility and Optimization Capability are elements often missed in competitive robotic design. We believe that inability to optimize a design can keep teams from fine tuning their robots and can keep them from running with the big boys. Of the teams we've mentored we find that larger teams may have the funding or capability to buy or machine a new gearbox to refine torque, speed or placement issues. The smaller or newer teams are often left to put bandages on mechanisms that could require rethinking that the Modulox Concept allows. As mentioned there are some potential engineering trade off's in a modular design but we believe Modulox's performance is comparable to other off the shelf solutions.

We are also excited about the base component potential, outside the standard 1, 2 and 3 slot packaging. Brendan and Andrew already mentioned 1902 piloted the Modulox concept last year on their competition elevator and gripper prototypes. Both these applications used only the base components with custom designed plates. A bit later this year we plan on working with 1902, Exploding Bacon, to document exactly how their design worked and their results over the last season.

Building on the announcement, We've recently put together a new "About"
It's hosted here: http://www.youtube.com/user/iR3Creat.../0/XDcW1OCGexw

[Michael Blake]

Originally Posted by Stud Man Dan

The theory behind the Modulox Gearbox is to provide... a competitive alternative to teams that would otherwise not be able to design or build their own gearbox.

We are also excited about the base component potential, outside the standard 1, 2 and 3 slot packaging. Brendan and Andrew already mentioned 1902 piloted the Modulox concept last year on their competition elevator and gripper prototypes. Both these applications used only the base components with custom designed plates.

Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?

THANK YOU for your help!

[BrendanRadabaug]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?

THANK YOU for your help!

not Dan, but if you have the capability to integrate the modulox in to your robot design it can help save weight and look streamlined. but if your team does not have machining capabilities, like say using a kitbot the provided gearboxes do work well with mounting on one. we used the "guts" on our competition robot with no problems.

[Dan Richardson]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?

THANK YOU for your help!

Building off of what Brendan said, there are many potential ways to use the Modulox Gearboxes and all the components are competition quality. I'm not sure if there is any reason a team would have to change to a custom gearbox unless the application approached or exceeded the linear force capabilities of the gearbox which is currently around 1,300 lbs. ( You can see the video here http://www.youtube.com/user/iR3Creat.../2/NO6IIaa84Ok )

There is potential outside the three base kits to build the slots into a frame rail, chassis, mechanism or custom made plates. As Brendan mentioned teams have the capability to machine their own slots, and it doesn't take an extremely high precision machine method to do so.

1902 used Modulox on 2 dynamic mechanisms, the first being a prototype roller gripper and the second was on their elevator. The prototype gripper can be seen Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hF-WXeyuyk

On the gripper, Modulox was used in two ways, the first was to help find a speed/torque that worked and the other was to determine the wheel spacing for the correct clamping force on the tube. Too loose, it wouldn't grab, too tight it would pop a tube, but modulox was able to make it just right. The gripper in the video was eventually swapped for banebot motors ( instead of cims ) and then later, to save some additional weight, it was further optimized with a sprocket and chain with all the geometry based off the original modulox prototypes. I may be biased but I think it's a cool example of designing for modularity, flexbility and continuing to optimize a design until you are comfortable enough to lock it in.

The second example is on their elevator. This was an high torque application which was fed by an AM-GEM Planetary gearbox. They had a dual chain system which needed to reverse direction but weren't sure if they would need any additional gearing off the GEM to account for friction or un-accounted for weight. They designed a "GEM-U-LOX" plate that was able to accommodate the gearing. The design was light weight and incorporated directly into their base structure they never needed to optimize this design. This is a great example of you can utilize the "Guts" or the bearing blocks, back blocks, through blocks, shafts and gears right out of the kit to fit your needs.

I hope this adds some additional clarity of how you might use a kit or the parts. During the next few month's we will be demonstrating potential and past usages so feel free to check Modulox.com for updates.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I agree it's not well suited for the comp bots of many teams, but could be nice to have as a dedicated prototyping/practice bot gearbox/testbed.

The price/weight is too high for the reduction you get. Still an awesome concept though, just the weight margins on FRC competition bots are too thin.

I'd also be concerned with having no way to achieve the proper center to center distance if being used on a comp bot.