There has been an interesting comment by FIRST today in the welcome letter. Does this possibly mean everyone now has the SAME drive train and chassis? What do you think?
"There are additional exciting changes to the kit of parts, which will offer greatly simplified robot construction for all teams. We have worked to provide components that will allow for the rapid construction of a working robot base with a target of all teams building the base in less than four days. "-FIRST
"Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, FIRST will be giving all teams a preseason kit that includes the EduRobot kit with workshops and tutorials as well as software from Autodesk, Microsoft and Filemaker. Each of these products will be shipped out to teams as soon as payment is received for at least one event. The EduRobot kit and software should help teams develop brainstorming and design skills before the start of the actual robot build period. We are enthusiastic about the possibilities offered by this product. "
that was a quote about the “erector set” coming this year for prototyping
I was wondering if anyone else saw that and thought the same thing…
I mean, they do mention CHANGES to the kit of parts. They can’t change the eduRobot since this will be the first year for everyone to get it. Plus it’s in a different paragraph than the rest of the eduRobot stuff. Besides, the next paragraph is about FedEx - nothing to do with eduRobot…
So, with that said… I think something is going on with our robo-base. Could they be including parts to make a basic base, with the option of building your own “super-cool” base? Or does everyone use the same base?
Man… if I wasn’t over analysising stuff yet, I am now…
It may be something as simple as including motor mounts for the Drill or Chiaphua motors, shaft couplings, and maybe an attached sprocket. . .or, some provision to easily attach a sprocket.
Team leaders were sent a brief questionnaire several months ago asking specific questions about the kit of parts, and among those questions was something about simplifying the mounting of the drive motors.
*Originally posted by Michael Krass *
**It may be something as simple as including motor mounts for the Drill or Chiaphua motors, shaft couplings, and maybe an attached sprocket. . .or, some provision to easily attach a sprocket.
Team leaders were sent a brief questionnaire several months ago asking specific questions about the kit of parts, and among those questions was something about simplifying the mounting of the drive motors. **
NO MORE CHIPHUAS:(
at the first yard sale, they gave away all of their chips, and it might be that first is trying to not make us work as hard?
by giving us easier things to work with.???
From reading the letter, it definately seems that FIRST will be changing the REAL kit. Like you’ve said, it’s a new paragraph break and it stops referring to eduRobot. I’d say there will be some sort of easy-to-assemble materials for the chassis this year.
As for FIRST dumping the chip motors, I have heard that this is due to awkward output shaft. Supposedly we will be getting the same motor with a different shaft. I could be wrong, but this is what I heard.
"There are additional exciting changes to the kit of parts, which will offer greatly simplified robot construction for all teams. We have worked to provide components that will allow for the rapid construction of a working robot base with a target of all teams building the base in less than four days. "-FIRST
Hopefully the “Key” word here is “Offered” not “Required”. I think teams will have the opportunity to use the offered set up or continue to develop one from the kit of parts as in the past.
As a rookie team you could use the standard kit to help with the shock after realizing what you’ve gotten yourself into. After the first year your hooked, and could then try to design your own.
I personally think seeing the variety of robots and drive systems developed to perform the same task is one of the greatest parts of going to the competitions. I feel having a standard base/drive you must build would reduce that variety.
The only complaints for this may be that it’s too easy to make the drivetrain and that it gives huge amounts of carpet-chewing power to the robots. But I suppose if you had to run at 12V it may not work as well.
Even something as simple as a better way to mate the drill motor with the gearbox would speed up our build time. Add a bigger output shaft (preferably with a keyway), and we could have a drive-train done in a matter of days. What takes time is getting all the couplers/extenders to mate perfectly.