I noticed in the manual that there were no specific motor limitations, so what are the physical limitations on motor quantity. And how many motors would a team typically use in their robot?
Ex- 8CIMS and 10 775s
You would be limited by slots on the PDP I believe.
Use as many motors as you need and no more.
A typical configuration is four CIMs on drive, more CIMs for intensive mechanisms like elevators (though you can use 775s if you know what you’re doing) and 775s or BAG motors for less intensive mechanisms.
I highly recommend that you do the math and the prototyping to figure out what is necessary and sufficient for your mechanisms. Tools like the JVN calculator can help you with this.
While there are quantity limits to motors, who need to pay attention to the Budget Limit of $5000, main reason is for each motor your going to need a motor controller, and the real good ones are expensive. Essentially the motor controller is the limitation to the quantity motor.
+1^.
Number of panic incidents in your team’s pit will be directly proportional to the square of the number of independently commanded motors used on your robot.
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+1 on what you need and no more.
The practical limit is 16, as there are 16 PDP slots. You could increase this by using sub-100W motors, which will allow you two motors per controller, but this is really an edge case.
Most robots have 4-6 drivetrain motors, though there are certainly those (e.g. those with swerve or 775 pro) with 8 or more.
For non-drivetrain motors, I have seen everywhere from zero (passive or pneumatic systems only) or one (3946’s 2015 robot) to the 118s and 254s and such filling up the PDP. I’d estimate the median at 4 or 5. This does not include compressors, servos, COTS fans or motors embedded in COTS cameras & computers.
It’s a good thing to keep in mind that only 8 slots on the PDP can take 40 AMP fuses whereas the other 8 can take from 5 - 30AMP so when designing make sure to check how many motors are being used for the drive train and your main functions.