Motors - another concept for FRC

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by JVN

Battery, Maximum Weight, Maximum Size... no other restrictions.

-John

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Its a fun idea, but not really practical in a design challenge.

+.02

I gotta agree with John here. You would think that removing constraints makes things easier but it doesn't. In fact it would open up entirely new decisions to make thus further complicating the design. I would add another restriction, maximum cost. (And I assume safety is factored in too)

Akash, the reason this isn't practical is because we simply don't have the TIME to research the optimum component for each aspect of the game. By constraining us to 10 motors the GDC is restricting our decision to help us, instead of choosing from hundreds of motors we can only choose from 10. And frankly many of them only make sense in certain situations which further simplifies the decision.

A lot of times people complain about wanting a more powerful motor, I for one am actually quite happy about the motors we have. It would be interesting to open up the motor selection a little more, add some choices that make motors exclusive, ie you can have X CIMs or Y of a motor with slightly different characteristics (lower torque, less current draw etc) Perhaps add in an off the shelf linear actuator. Perhaps allow extra weight for certain drive systems, if you build a walker (a much more mechanically complex system) you get an extra X pounds and may use Y more motors of varying type. Decisions like this might encourage teams to think outside the box. While the 6wd is a nice drive system should we encourage people to keep doing what they have always done because they are comfortable or should we encourage them to try new things?

Just my $.02