about how Drive Train push the robot... shouldn't the force accelerate the robot?

[Ken Leung]

Pretty much the reason those drill motors draw so much current is because we put too much load on them. That is why when robot go up the bridge with goals or do 360 turn with high traction tank drive... And at the same time, those motors get really inefficient with high load, losing a lot of motor power to heat.

So, we fix that with either a bigger gear ratio, and/or more motors. And I think more motors is the way to go since bigger ratio comes with a slower speed.

By the way, Teams always had to consider between weight and speed when they design their robots. But a lot of competitive robots get really close to weight limits anyway due to other components. So we can pretty much assume that during the competition we will face some heavy 130lb robots. However, robots can have some good advantages with light weight and fast drive train. That is why there were many interesting combinations of robot during 1999 and 2000 game...

And, If we are going head to head competition, which I think is extremely likely, robots will need some serious pushing force if they plan to push others around... no matter they are defensing or over-coming opponents' defensive robots.

Come to think of it, the best ways to push against other robot is to somehow reduce their traction... or have more torque on the wheels... but of course I won't be telling how exactly to accomplish those conditions just yet