Why Hasn't first gone Brushless?

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Goldeye

The cost-based argument against brushless motors is quite compelling, but how about the possibility of a single brushless motor (and appropriate control devices). Might there be some brushless motor that would fill a nice niche for FIRST robots; perhaps higher torque applications without needing as much gearing?

Brushless motors actually perform better under low loads (they don't have huge advantages over brushed motors for high load tasks), so a high torque application with low gearing is the opposite of what you'd want to use them for. That's why you typically see brushless motors in high-speed, lower-load applications such as hard drives, cd players, or RC airplane props.

The ideal applications on an FRC bot for brushless motors would be shooting wheels (best application), intake rollers, and some drive systems (or similar).