Is there a breakdown of the types of 2014 Einstein drivetrains (6 wheel center drop, mecanum, etc) and how this year compares with previous years?
I know Mecanums were on Einstein for the first time this year. Only on a collector, not a drive base 
For the past two years there has been one butterfly on Einstein: 2014 - 1477, 2013 - 148.
Curie
254: 6 CIM 6WD
469: 6 CIM 8WD
2848: 6 CIM 6WD
Galileo
67: 6 CIM 8WD
973: 6 CIM 6WD
2481: Swerve
Newton
1114: 4 CIM 6WD
1640: 4 CIM Swerve
1678: 6 CIM 6WD
Archimedes
1477: 4 CIM Butterfly
1625: 6 CIM 4WD
2590: 4 CIM 8WD
Backups
3467: 6 CIM 6WD
2363: 4 CIM 6WD
5136: Looks like KOP chassis 6WD.
74: 4 CIM 6WD
All this data taken from the pre scouting sheets.
Thought 1625 was butterfly? It looked like they did some fancy spin moves that weren’t possible with traction wheels.
So, not even octocanum? This is worse than the Curie Curse! 
2 Traction, 2 Omni, if I remember correctly. Saw some awesome used omnis off their bot at Midwest with rollers that were basically triangles from all the pushing and shoving on the field.
I thought so too, compliments to their driver, I guess…
Those spins were amazing. Does anyone know if they were one-speed or two-speed?
Yep, 2 VEX Pro traction wheels in the back and 2 VEX Pro omni wheels in the front. I’m pretty sure they’ve got some pretty worn down traction wheels as well.
6 CIM single speed
Their driver is the same one they had last year when they had Butterfly, and a lot of the maneuvers he used with Butterfly carried over to the tank drive they ran this year. Their driver certainly knows his stuff, and to think he’s just a junior…
No kidding, the entire drive team was pretty much on point every match…I wish I could be that good…
Currently there is a high concentration of WCD, but I expect that to change in a few years. The higher concentration of butterfly and swerve designs will eventually create a new design that will overtake like WCD did.
WCD was not used much in the early years either.
Remember that 6WD does not automatically mean WCD. The KOP is a 6WD, but it is definitely not a WCD. If I were to take a guess, and at minimum count a WCD as a Cantilevered Live Axle drive, the percentage is most likely fairly similar to Swerves, and both are most likely more common then butterfly’s. The teams that make good WCD’s will most likely continue, because they know how to make them well, same as the teams that commonly build good swerves will most likely continue because thats what they are good at. The teams in the middle will be the ones that will switch back and forth between new drive types.
Of the teams that played on Einstein this year it would appear that there were 3 or 4 true west coast drives by Thad House’s definition (254, 973, 1678?, 2590), 2 swerves (1640, 2481), and 2 butterfly-esk drive trains (1477, 1625), so there were about the same number of ‘cutting edge’/‘out there’ drives (for lack of better terms) as west coasts. However, as far as drop center drives go, there’s not a significant difference in performance from a west coast style to a kit bot style drop center, so in those terms the drop centers (67, 254, 469, 973, 1114, 1678, 2590, 2824) far out number the non drop centers (1477, 1625, 1640, 2481).
That said, I could definitely see the drive train landscape change to a more butterfly-oriented field say 3, 4, 5 years out, and it would not surprise me if it’s more than just the “teams in the middle” making the change. Just look at a team like 33 or 1732. Two well respected teams that end up in the finals at their events more times than not that put out good drop centers on a year to year basis that switched to butterfly-esk drive trains this year. Either way it’s definitely something to be tracking on in the near future.
Just a fact check point 33 did single speed Omni this year, not butterfly like many people thought.
But speaking of “cutting edge” drives, I have an entire folder of pictures of your teams drive this year, absolutely beautiful.
Jim calls it a Butterfly so a Butterfly it is.
Killer bee joke. Its also a part of BJCs signature: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/member.php?u=36413
So from the general conversation, I am guessing that most if not all of the drivetrains had a dropped center. If so, can anyone give me some idea how much to drop the center. On the KITBOT we used I believe all the wheels touched?
In general, 1/8" - 3/16" are very common drops. Unless you’re doing anything fancy, I’d lean towards the 1/8" side. Whenever I design using blue nitrile tread on traction wheels, I go 5/32" due to the extra grip from the blue nitrile. If you’re doing pneumatic wheels, then 3/16 is one of the most common solutions. Anything else is 1/8 and you’re fine.
*Note other people may have other preferences. This is just the general idea I’ve gotten from talking to many people about their drivetrain preferences and it seems to be the most commonly accepted one.