pic: Four Speed Three CIM Gearbox

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by hectorcastillo

Although what advantages would it serve to have power coming from the same place if you could just use more motors for a different mechanism? .... It would actually be kind of wasteful.

The ultimate FRC PTO would have six CIMs each running at a bit under 20A, each generating about 150W. A slice of this massive 900W (that's about 1.2 HP) would then be available to whatever functions the robot needed to perform, whether it was drive, lift, pickup, place, throw, can grabber, or whatever screwy function the GDC required that year. If tapping the "correct" amount of energy off of a rotating shaft and applying it to a task was easy, this would definitely be the way to go. And OBTW, if you weren't using all 900W, perhaps you could spin up a flywheel, which would allow you to draw a few hundred extra watts later when you need to "go to eleven" for a bit. Theoretically, this sort of PTO sounds like heaven for a game like Aerial Assist which involved defense, driving, shooting, and (at endgame) climbing. The devil's in the details, as always!

And, for the record, my prediction: The first FIRST team to execute this sort of PTO will join 71, 118, 254, and 1114 as one of the top five teams of all time (unless, of course, it's one of those four who do so).