[FRC Blog] KOP Drive System Opt Out

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 10/3/14: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...m-Opt-Out-2015

KOP Drive System Opt Out

Blog Date: Friday, October 3, 2014 - 10:13

Please see the update below on the Kit of Parts Drive System Option from the Kit of Parts team:

Given the positive reception the last two seasons, the option for Veteran FRC teams to opt out of receiving the 2015 Kit of Parts Drive System will be available again for 2015! 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 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on Monday, 10/6, to 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on Friday, 10/20. 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.

"What's New" in TIMS

NOTE: If teams do not choose to opt out of the KOP Drive System in favor of the PDV by 10/20, 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.

• The drive base will look similar to the AM14U from 2014, but some changes have been made to address feedback from teams in the 2014 KOP Survey.The front and rear pieces are bent sheet metal instead of extrusion, and their front faces are no longer angled in (see End Sheet in section profiles PDF).
  • The inside side rails have a bend at the top, mirroring the outside rails (see Inside Sheet in section profiles PDF).
  • The chassis is still configurable to be either long, wide, or square, all with 6 wheel drive.
  
  
• The chassis is set up to interface directly with the provided gearboxes (ToughBox Minis), similar to the AM14U.
• Belts will be provided to power the provided wheels. However, there are mounting locations for other wheel sizes or types, should your team choose to go that direction.

We recognize that we are asking you to choose to receive or not receive an incompletely defined product, which can lead to frustration. Our goal is to give you as much information as possible without revealing details about the game. For example, the limited ground clearance on last year’s KOP Drive System implied that the 2014 field would be relatively flat, while a drive base with significant ground clearance would imply some type of obstacle on the field that robots will likely have to traverse. If we revealed details such as ground clearance, we would be giving away too much of the game.

Here are profile drawings of the cross-section of each of the three pieces: the end sheet, the outside sheet, and the inside sheet.

[jwfoss]

Those profile drawings make me happy. Nice work AndyMark team!

[AllenGregoryIV]

Didn't they give away ground clearance a little bit by showing the chassis profiles.

Even with 8" wheels this chassis would have a hard time having more than 3.75" of ground clearance.

Assuming those profile shapes are the only three pieces of the chassis and we don't see a repeat of the 2010 risers.

Also climbing ramps and bumps is harder with this chassis than with the previous version that had the angled front and rear rails.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Didn't they give away ground clearance a little bit by showing the chassis profiles.

Even with 8" wheels this chassis would have a hard time having more than 3.75" of ground clearance.

Assuming those profile shapes are the only three pieces of the chassis and we don't see a repeat of the 2010 risers.

Also climbing ramps and bumps is harder with this chassis than with the previous version that had the angled front and rear rails.

All they gave away was the side profiles. In theory, they could have angled fronts and rears. We'll have to wait and see.

Good work on AndyMark though for addressing community concerns. 900 has been mounting our transmissions to the inner rail of the chassis for about 3 years now and we were really happy to see the AM14U this past year. I hope it just keeps getting better and better.

[Mr V]

What I'm hoping is that they have an integrated or include pieces for a bumper mount system. I heard that there was some internal discussion at AM about it and I told one of their engineers that from an inspector stand point it would be greatly appreciated. It would make inspection so much easier and save teams so much frustration if we could just say "you used the KOP mounting system per directions" so you are good to go, at least as far as meeting the rules of properly supported and robustly attached.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by marshall

All they gave away was the side profiles. In theory, they could have angled fronts and rears. We'll have to wait and see.

They gave us three profiles. The two front and rear rails, the two inside rails, and the two outer rails. What else is there left, they explicitly say that they changed the front and rear rails to no longer be angled.

The front and rear pieces are bent sheet metal instead of extrusion, and their front faces are no longer angled

Am I missing something?

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

They gave us three profiles. The two front and rear rails, the two inside rails, and the two outer rails. What else is there left, they explicitly say that they changed the front and rear rails to no longer be angled.

Am I missing something?

They are still angled. They're just angled at 90º relative to the ground.

[Jon Stratis]

Also, if the entire front piece were angled, teams would have a heck of a time attaching and properly supporting bumpers!

[timytamy]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Didn't they give away ground clearance a little bit by showing the chassis profiles.

Even with 8" wheels this chassis would have a hard time having more than 3.75" of ground clearance.

This doesn't necessarily imply a completely flat field, 2012 had a similar clearance for 8" wheels but there was still the top hat across the centre of the field.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

They gave us three profiles. The two front and rear rails, the two inside rails, and the two outer rails. What else is there left, they explicitly say that they changed the front and rear rails to no longer be angled.



Am I missing something?

Yep, the riser kits from 2010. Worked quite well with a standard KOP drivetrain that year. Just putting that out there as a reminder that not all ground clearance has to come from the basic KOP frame.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by EricH

Yep, the riser kits from 2010. Worked quite well with a standard KOP drivetrain that year. Just putting that out there as a reminder that not all ground clearance has to come from the basic KOP frame.

If the 2015 drivetrain is as similar to the AM14U as they're saying, it won't be able to have risers.

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

If the 2015 drivetrain is as similar to the AM14U as they're saying, it won't be able to have risers.

Maybe not an identical part, but what about something which nests between the rails instead of mounting to the bottom? The folks at Andymark are smart guys, they can figure something out if necessary.