pic: ThunderChicken Transmission Teaser

[Paul Copioli]

Marc,

We determined early on that we wanted to be a fast capper so we wanted a pretty decent top speed (9.5 ft/sec). We also knew that teams would want to block us after we received a tetra from the auto loader, but before we actually left the auto loader. Given this assumption, we also wanted to maximize our pushing power without shifting gears.

Given our desired top speed, desire not to shift, and our pushing force desire we calculated that the 6 motor drive would give us what we wanted.

If we eliminate the FP from the drive, we would either need to reduce our top speed (increase gear ratio) to about 6.5 ft/sec or change tread material to decrease our coefficient of friction with the carpet in order to not trip breakers in a pushing match.

By the way, our practice bot is only using the CIM motors for drive because we are not getting in many pushing matches during practice.

-Paul