Team 3489 Category 5 Presents Storm Drive

[HumblePie]

Hello CD Community,

Inspired by a trip to CMP in 2013 and the chance to spend time with the nice folks over at FRC Team 148 (Robowranglers), and the innovative gearboxes from FRC Team 192 (Gunn Robotics), we were inspired to push our creative envelope a little bit and come up with our own version of Butterfly Drive. Attached here is a representation of our competition "Storm Drive" from our 2014 entry, "Floyd Scaryweather". It utilizes a COTS worm gearbox with a 10:1 reduction, and HTD Timing belts driving 6 inch Omni wheels, along with a set of pneumatically actuated drop-down traction wheels with a 2.1:1 reduction. The theoretical top speed is 14ft/sec in high speed, and 6.7ft/sec in traction mode. With the fully enclosed gearbox and belt drive, the robot is eerily quiet. The gearbox utilizes a 3-start worm, and can be pushed (not easily) after a break-in period.

The main goal of this design was to utilize the space between the frame rails in a way that the center of the chassis could be largely open. Our results were largely positive. The main issue encountered was with ratcheting encountered during a quick change of direction. We attempted to control acceleration/deceleration through software, but we're unsure if it was effective. We didn't encounter a lot of pushing matches in competition, but the low speed operation seemed to work as intended. Future iterations would likely include larger pulleys for greater engagement, closer c-c distances (0.5mm "slop" seems to be too much) or possibly converting from 9 to 15mm wide belts.

So, please ask and comment away!