Any restrictions on engines?

[Bob Steele]

I have often wondered about putting a fly wheel on the robot...
charging it up to high speed before the match and then using that power in a variety of ways during the match...

I don't think the rules allow for this but you could wind springs and use that energy I believe because that is deformation of a material...

The fly wheel would present some interesting engineering challenges.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

I have often wondered about putting a fly wheel on the robot...
charging it up to high speed before the match and then using that power in a variety of ways during the match...

I don't think the rules allow for this but you could wind springs and use that energy I believe because that is deformation of a material...

The fly wheel would present some interesting engineering challenges.

According to the 2012 (and previous) rules, starting the match with a spinning flywheel would seem illegal but the springs are not.

[R36]
The only legal source of electrical energy for the Robot during the competition is one MK ES17-12 12VDC non-spillable
lead acid battery, or one EnerSys NP 18-12 battery, as provided in the 2012 KOP. This is the only battery allowed on
the Robot.
Batteries integral to and part of a COTS computing device are also permitted (i.e. laptop batteries), provided they’re
only used to power the COTS computing device and any peripheral COTS USB input devices connected to the COTS
computing device.
Non-electrical sources of energy used by FRC Robots, (i.e., stored at the start of a Match), shall come only from the
following sources:
A. Compressed air stored in the pneumatic system, stored at a maximum pressure of 120 PSI.
B. A change in the altitude of the Robot center of gravity.
C. Storage achieved by deformation of Robot parts.

Would be cool, though.