Rookie Season 2014 - Lessons Learned

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by Steven Donow

I'm gonna have to disagree with this here. For a vast majority of teams, it's much more beneficial to put your resources into other things besides developing a drivetrain. As a learning excercise, sure, it can be great, but the kitbot is an excellent drivetrain that so many teams, both new and veteran, definitely undervalue.

We were just having this discussion--what made the difference for 1678 this year. We joked about how bad our catapult was this year, but we agreed the fact that we may have had fastest West Coast drive was a big difference maker for us on the the robot. (There were many non-robot factors that were just as important.)

[ArtemusMaximus]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

We were just having this discussion--what made the difference for 1678 this year. We joked about how bad our catapult was this year, but we agreed the fact that we may have had fastest West Coast drive was a big difference maker for us on the the robot. (There were many non-robot factors that were just as important.)

I wasn't disagreeing with the fact that better drivetrain will be better for the competition. What I was disagreeing with is giving advice to rookie team to build a better drivetrain. For all around rookie team learning curve is tremendous and I do not see how drivetrain can be anywhere near the top of the importance list.

Keep in mind, I started this post as a FRC required feedback from rookie team that receive FRC sponsorship. So the feedback is primarily for rookie teams to learn from our experience and may be it will help them to focus better on important stuff first.

In conclusion, I just wanted to say that, some advices "have to do" and others are "would be nice to do". Also, some advices will change depending on various factors (i.e. size of the team, students and mentors skillset, budget, access to manufacturing facilities etc).
Honestly I do not see any realistic way for us to be able to build a different drivetrain in our rookie year. Considering we were small team (9 kids), one of only active 2 rookie teams, no local veteran teams to get support from, very low budget, no access to decent shop - working in a chem lab with only couple drills, mitre saw and drill press.

So, I suppose, what I was writing is the information that would greatly benefit our own team if we knew it in December.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by ArtemusMaximus

I wasn't disagreeing with the fact that better drivetrain will be better for the competition. What I was disagreeing with is giving advice to rookie team to build a better drivetrain. For all around rookie team learning curve is tremendous and I do not see how drivetrain can be anywhere near the top of the importance list.

A robot's drivetrain is always the most important thing. The second most important thing is the drivetrain, and so is the third.

I don't think the advice was intended to suggest that rookies should put a lot of engineering effort into developing a fancy drivetrain. It's just that the kit drivebase shouldn't be treated as a "black box" that gets handed to teams as an unquestioned given. It should be studied and understood, and there should be actual analysis applied to decisions about the frame dimensions, the size of the wheels, potential alternate gearboxes, etc.

[Rangel]

The belt driven kitbots that have been available for the last two years have been the best drivetrains our team has ever had. For most teams especially rookies, I would definitely stick to the kit-bot chassis with maybe a gearbox change to two speed depending on the game. Having the drive train built and running during week 1 is the reason why we've been using it every year. It gives us a lot more time to focus on our manipulators which are really the key element to playing most games very well. An average drivetrain with an awesome manipulator and scoring device is better than an awesome drivetrain and average manipulator and scoring device in my opinion. Honestly too, the kit bot and vex alternative are above average anyways.

[ArtemusMaximus]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

A robot's drivetrain is always the most important thing. The second most important thing is the drivetrain, and so is the third.

I don't think the advice was intended to suggest that rookies should put a lot of engineering effort into developing a fancy drivetrain. It's just that the kit drivebase shouldn't be treated as a "black box" that gets handed to teams as an unquestioned given. It should be studied and understood, and there should be actual analysis applied to decisions about the frame dimensions, the size of the wheels, potential alternate gearboxes, etc.

I will tell you this. Our first full test run of the bot was our first game in regionals. So, putting ANY additional effort into any part of the bot (better drivetrain or otherwise) would effectively take us out of the competition.