pic: CVT drivetrain

[Kevin Sevcik]

Looks like some sort of quasi-positive engagement system. You're relying on the pins on the belt not to shear or skip instead of a belt not to slip. It's interesting, but I don't think his demo there was under any sort of load, so I'd question the actual performance of the design when you toss an engine and a load on it.

On a completely other topic, I agree whole-heartedly with M Krass that inefficient, poorly working designs are less deserving of awards. FIRST is an engineering competition. Atleast that's what I've always been told. Engineers often design cool, innovative devices, but they always strive to design something that works well, is efficient, and is cost-effective. In my opinion, a cool, innovative, expensive CVT that bleeds power is a poor engineering choice.

As an example, a team could come up with a thoroughly innovative and cool device for a robot that serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Heck, they could put a cold fusion generator on there to power some decorations. Do you want to give them an award for a really innovative, utterly useless device?