pic: LEGO Vernier Gearbox

[SarahB]

Originally posted by Tytus Gerrish
Theres always Somone who Just LOVES to stomp on wikid cool ideas and things, I bet you never/Can't Drive a stick can you? The mission mars Is I think a very usefull place for a Shiftable Gearbox, i maen getting to the tasks quickly and then Shifting down to get the toutque you need to complete your tasks and then shifting up again to get back to the base to get started on another task is And will be a distinct advantage

You don't really need a huge amount of torque for most of the tasks. The only one I can think of that requires much at all is going over the crater, and that is just as much an issue of drive base design and wheels as it is torque. You can very easily find a nice gear ratio that allows you enough speed and torque without wasting a motor shifting gears.