As was stated, team 71’s Walker, team 45’s ball-drive, and 857’s kiwi are 3 excellent ideas that were very interesting and “out of the box.”
Other ideas that aren’t strap a wheel to a motor (basically) are any system of a swerve drive, be it omni-wheels (which, in and of themselves are a non-conventional method) or swiveling shafts, or swiveling the motor gearbox and wheel all at once, and then there are the parallel drive systems (2 sets of wheels that can be dropped down depending on direction of movement wanted). There are tons of ideas floating around that have yet to be implemented also.
Why don’t we more of them?
Time, effort, resources, strategy.
Time: Developing a new or complex idea can put a damper on build season time.
Effort: Someone has to be willing to either build the mechanism(s) and work out the math for an effective system. Non-dedication to a project has been the downfall of many systems.
Resources: Some teams don’t have people who think up the fancy ideas that win awards and praise. Some teams have the people, but not the machinary to make it. Some have the people, and machinary, but not the material for a decent enough price.
Strategy: The game for the year often isn’t workable with some of the neat ideas on the ‘market.’ Team 71’s walker wouldn’t be useful for this years game (as it traveled only in a roughly straight line). 45’s ball-drive takes up a lot of space leaving little room for other features (as seen with video of 909). The kiwi-drive is probably just too easy to push off of the HDPE. So there are 3 great ideas that won’t be effective for a champion robot this year.
Because of this, teams opted for a fancy way to perform the target. Instead of driving to the center, they’d flail to the center.
Prototypes only go so far. You can build an awesome machine or part of a machine, but if it would be pointless to implement, your machine/part goes unnoticed. I think the teams that build these elaborate items want to be noticed for their accomplishments, and rightfully so. I personally was working on a few prototypes before the game was released and they are now sitting in a pile waiting for possible use next year. I didn’t expect HDPE, which reflects my prototypes not being designed to work with it.
Every year there will be at least one really neat idea that really stands out. It doesn’t have to be drive-train either, but commonly is. Eventually, FIRST will reach a point where almost everything involved in the bot will be awe-striking to people who hadn’t thought of it. Give it time, ideas are on there way.