Pushing power with out breaker popping

[Keith Chester]

Our robot was designed to have maximum speed and power, without EVER tripping a breaker. And we never did. Save the first round of the FIRST National finals. Oi! (We went through every round of Curie plus the two in the semifinals of the Nationals. Way too much for that machine).

How did we avoid tripping a breaker through all of that? Did we have small tires? Nope, 8 3/4 now, nearly 9 inches with extra layer of rubber with our special tread cut not yet ripped off. Cut back on programming? Only on one side to make the bot go straight - even then, very minimal.

Transmissions? A one speed gearbox? Custom gearbox? Definately! 4:1 gear ratio from the drill gearbox to each of three wheels, powered by an atwood geared down to the drill's speed and then put into the same 4:1 system. They work together.

But what keeps us for tripping? From wasting battery power? From simply overheating those motors or, in this case, the breaker and thus tripping it?

Simple. Rarely move your bot.
The 25 trade secret we designed in 2002 and built upon this year for our braking system. Our brakes, which I will be glad to show you, consists of two servos, one on each side. When activated, the entire gear system is dead. It is quite literally impossible for any robot in FIRST to turn our wheels. It's possible to move us, as it's been done before, but we are nothing but a dead weight with an amazing amount of traction due to tires.
Why does this help?

It allows us to conserve battery strength, keep motors cool, and even keeps the entire system, including the breaker, in tip top condition. We tripped the breaker in Finals because it was the 9th match in a row without stopping for our dear Evil Machine.

Then again, maybe it was just fate.