Drivetrain Basics

[dtengineering]

With a single speed gearbox, speed and accelleration are trade offs.

As you increase your pushing force, you can speed up faster, stop faster, and turn faster. But your maximum speed drops.

In this year's game we sacrificed top speed for accelleration and pushing force, due to the fact that it was pretty apparent that there would almost never be a time when a robot would get up to full speed due to the congestion on the floor.

We got the 14:1 upgrade kit for our Toughboxes, and... wow... that had to be our best performing drivetrain EVER. (2CIMs per side, through 14:1 toughbox, direct to 6"x1.5" IFI traction wheels with roughtop).

I think I'd go with the slower, quicker robot again, even in an open field competition. Robots tend to spend more time maneuvering than driving in a long straight line.

It will change from game to game, of course... but what good is a theoretical top speed that you never reach?

Jason