Every team in the FIRST robotics competition uses them: Drive Trains. No matter what kind you use or how you implement them, it is a staple part of any robot. This topic is a place to have a complex and comprehensive discussion about any and all types of drive trains. Some discussion topics could be:
What types of drive trains are best?
Some types of drive trains are simply more effective in an all-around fashion. Some are not.
What types of drive trains will work best for this year’s competition?
There are lots of types of drive trains out there, but only some will be implemented well for the competition this year.
What gearboxes are effective to put on a drive train, and why?
There are an infinite number of gearboxes that you can stick on a drive train, but some can be more popular or work better than others.
Are there any drive train + gearbox combinations that are guaranteed to be effective for any competition or scenario?
There are some drive trains that can be used for any situation, and have the versatility of Dean Kamen on a Segway.
Are there any specialty drive trains that are rarely used but can be really effective? Any crazy drive trains that people have seen, but haven’t worked at all?
We’ve all seen that one team that tries to implement that one crazy drive train and gearbox combination, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Please use this discussion to throw out ideas, discuss them, and just be the FRC community that we all know and love