Experimental Ball Drive

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm not an expert on patent laws but make sure whatever you do doesn't cause any problems because the T-kats bot/design is patented.

This just means that someone besides Delphi should not use this design with the intent of making money from it. FIRST teams can still use this idea to create a drive base (I have already PM'ed Sepsis900 to offer advice). Delphi management simply wanted to protect their rights by filing for a patent covering this specific design, not to keep other FIRST teams from using it.

Further development is encouraged and FIRST teams could make this drive system better.

If someone takes this idea and develops a more elegant iteration to improve performance, then they will have an invention of their own. Then, they can create a patent and seek commercial advantages.

Andy B.