FRC Blogged-Kit of Parts Drive System Option

[Steven Donow]

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...em-Option-2014

Please see the update below on the Kit of Parts Drive System Option from Kate and Collin, the Kit of Parts team:

For the 2013 FRC season, veteran teams had the option to opt out of receiving the Kit of Parts Drive System and instead receive a $450 Product Donation Voucher to AndyMark. Nearly 700 teams took advantage of this option. In the 2013 KOP Survey, 83% of teams who knew that it was an option said it improved the KOP experience. (Unfortunately, 10% of teams said they didn’t know it was an option. We need to work on that!)

Given the positive reception last season, the option will again be available for 2014! Veteran teams can choose to receive a Product Donation Voucher (PDV) from AndyMark instead of the KOP Drive System at Kickoff. Rookie teams will automatically receive the KOP Drive System.

The PDV will again be worth $450 and can be used on AndyMark parts. To accommodate orders and lead times, the option to opt out of the KOP Drive System for the PDV will be available ONLY from 10/3 to noon eastern on 10/17. During that time, the option to receive the PDV in place of the KOP Drive System will be found in the “What’s New” section on the right side bar of the TIMS main screen.

NOTE: If teams do not choose to opt out of the KOP Drive System in favor of the PDV by 10/17, they will be assigned the ‘default’ option of receiving the KOP Drive System as part of their Kickoff Kit.

To help you make your decision, we can give you some general information about this year’s KOP Drive System. It will look very different from those of the past and the two major variations include the following:

• The C-Base is gone. In its place is a redesigned frame using sheet metal and extrusion designed to make it easier to attach superstructures to the drive base.
• It is still a six-wheel belt drive robot, with an estimated final drive speed of about 10.5 feet per second. But, with the new design, we’ve changed to a direct driven center wheel powered by ToughBox Mini gearboxes.

The KOP Drive System can still be set up as a six-wheel drive “long robot”, but the redesign also now allows a six-wheel drive “wide” robot out-of-the-box. We are excited to continue to increase the competitive level of the KOP Drive System while continuing to give teams the opportunity to make the Kit of Parts as valuable as possible. We thank AndyMark and Gates Corporation for their support in creating this possibility.

Interesting to see that the new kitbot is a sheetmetal structure.