WCP Power Take Off

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

With the vast array and unrestricted quantities of high power motors now available in FRC, I'm struggling to imagine cases where PTOs are still the best option. Back when there were far fewer high powered motors and their quantities were limited, it made sense for your drivetrain CIMs to pull double duty. In 2016, teams had access to up to 6 CIMs and there were no rules restrictions placed on the quantity of 775 Pros or MiniCIMs used, so needing to hunt for that additional mechanism power from your drivetrain seems far less rewarding.

I agree. For 1.6 lbs (plus transmissions and electronics...let's say ~3 lbs total) you can have (2) 775pros generate enough mechanical power to lift a full-weight robot with battery and bumpers vertically at ~3.5 ft/sec (neglecting losses). That's crazy fast, and it gets faster as you add more motors for <1.5 lbs a pop.

You very well may be able to get it lighter/smaller using a PTO, but the coupling between mechanisms means both the drive and the PTO'd mechanism are going have additional design constraints that need to be satisfied (read: less room to adapt if you need to change something down the line).