Globe gear box

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

Of late, I have given up building my own custom gearboxes, swerve drive, shift on the fly, and any number of other complexities...

...perhaps I should start a 12 step program for multi-motor, shift on the fly, steerable drivetrain addicts:
Step 1 We admitted we were powerless over fancy FIRST drivetrains - that our FIRST designs have become unmanageable
Step 2...

Joe,

I'd be very interested to hear your reasoning on reverting back to simpler drive trains. Is it just that the advantages gained are too small to warrant the effort and complexity, or are there other reasons as well?

To me, I think teams just need to recognize their limitations. For example, there's no point in strafing, if results in your robot being a cardboard box that can strafe, or a robot that can strafe but is uncontrollable and unreliable. Your drive system is the most important part of your robot. Here are my guidelines on choosing and building a FIRST drive system.

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1.You're better off with a simple, 99.1114% reliable drive system, than a complex 50% reliable drive system.

1a. A robot that doesn't move will not win many matches.

2. If it's going to take 6 weeks to perfect your complex drive system it may not be the best idea.

2a. It's really not the best idea if you don't have enough people to work in parallel with the rest of the robot.

3. Remember, this robot will be driven by young, pubescent and agressive High School students. As a result...

i. It will be driven into walls, robots and the ground. Make your drive system durable.

ii. Your drivers will be inexperienced. Not many people drive robots in their spare time. Make the controls as user friendly and intuitive as possible. No matter how much extra coding this takes, it is worthwhile.

4. If you do build a complex drive system, expect for it not to work at first.

5. Looking at #4, hints strongly towards off-season prototyping.

6. Evaulate your abilities and resources in an honest and realistic way.

7. There needs to be a good reason to go complex. Don't strafe or shift just for the sake of doing so. Look at the game, evaluate your strategic priorities, and ask yourself, "is it really neccesary?", "could we better use our resources somewhere else?"

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I like these guidelines a lot. But then again, this is coming from a guy whose team used six motors and four 6" pnuematic cylinders to drive the 2004 robot...