The perfect gearbox

[Bill_Hancoc]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Hmm, I've thought about this before and I've come down to a few conclusions. A CVT would probably be awesome beyond belief, however its quite heavy, not to mention if it really was a CVT it wouldn't be a true CVT.

So, that being said I do have another idea thats a bit more realistic:
3 speed, 1-Mini Bike, 1-Cim in combination. The smaller cim would be geared down. Next I would make it something like a 3-speed plantetary with a servo powered, ball bearing shifter. To add some kicks i'd have encoders on it so it could be programmed to drive like an automatic.

In all, the gearbox without the motors would weigh less than 5 pounds (probably 3ish), and I'd have two total. I wouldn't try anything too special like a holonomic drive system or mechanum wheels, because i watch teams use them and the driver never seems like they have full control of the robot. I want something thats easy to control and with good handling. The most unique I'd get with this design is that because its a planetary and servo shifting, it'd be small enough to use with a swerve drive, yes imagine a multi-speed swerve drive.

Hmmm, I got to get to work on this.

CVT YES i was gonna put it but you beat me to it that would be the icing on the cake.