Limiting Drivetrain Motors

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

I think that the drivetrain 'arms race' is fantastic. It forces teams to consider a serious engineering decision - how many CIMs should we put in our drivetrain? There are weight, power, traction, acceleration, lost-opportunity, and reliability factors to weigh out.

I think this is less and less of a question. Back when we were only allowed 4 CIMs and 2 FP motors (and maybe 1 other high power motor), absolutely. There were plenty of applications where you might want to utilize a high power motor in your manipulator design. Now the only choice really comes down to whether or not you can afford a few extra pounds for your drivetrain (especially with the new PDB and Roborio helping avoid brown outs). Scarcity/lost-opportunity is no longer a concern with 6-CIMs and quite a few other high-power 500 and 700-series motors available to teams.