Rumor has it that Team 180, SPAM, has selected the GaryDill Inc. "Littles-C" 12 speed gear box for use on its 2005 Triple Play Robot. GaryDill Inc. CEO, Gary Dillard, was un-available for comment at the time of this posting. GaryDill Inc. and Jones'nJones Limited (with their Mark VI, 3-speed, shift-on-the fly design) are competing for the SPAM gearbox contrack.
I’m just looking at this thing in disbelief.
Have the Floridians just taken the title as king of the transmission-speed wars?
(Yeah, I know, the thunderchickens had theoretically infinite speeds. Details, details.)
Wow, scary. UCF Regional should be interesting this year hehe.
Is this for real? Something about that picture is making me want to call shenanigans…
He’s trying to scare the other teams into deregistering before the tournament!
That gearbox is…insane…
Sorta overkill though. For this year, just 2 speed is good. High Speed for when going up and down the field and maybe a lower speed for more torque when carrying the tetra. But that gearbox is awesome, but looks sorta small, i see a person’s thumb on top holding the gearbox.
I have a feeling this is not an original assemblty made for the 2005 spam robot. I think they pulled it out of something else. The only problem with my theroy is I can’t think of anything other than a big rig that would have 12 speeds, and in that case that would be a giant’s thumb!
In the caption you specify that it is a 12 speed gearbox and a 3 speed shift on the fly gearbox. Is the 12 speed also shift on the fly… or does it have 12 predetermined speeds in which you can select 1 of those before a match?
There’s no three-speed pictured there. At least no three-speed that looks like anything I’ve ever seen…
I am thinking he means it is kind of like a bicycle. Sort of. Without actually studying the picture I am guessing that he means that they can select any one of four ranges of gearing with the bot stopped, then when they are running they can select one of three settings within that range. Or maybe the other way around. Now that I think about it, it really doesnt have anything to do with a bicycle, but whatever.
I think he’s talking about two separate things. There’s this alleged 12-speed box, and there’s a three-speed SOTF box. They claim that they are trying to decide between them, but I call shenanigans.
Oh, ok. I didnt read the caption, and our team doesnt do gearboxes. Our highest precision tool is a sawzall, because our wood bandsaw, wont seem to cut straight through aluminum. It works ok through thin steel though (having a wood blade on really helps!) 
I did mean two seperate things… a twelve speed… and a three speed shift on the fly. Now that I think about it I am also calling “shenanigans” I don’t see a four speed necessary let alone a twelve speed, it is ridiculous over-kill. Good try SPAM guys. Probably the best teaser I have seen yet.
-Henry
I can neither confirm nor deny any knowledge of this, except:
- I have seen and touched it
- This is a true 12 speed gearbox.
- You can barely see the bronze shifting mechanism in the shadows in the back. We wouldn’t want to give EVERYTHING away.
- One of our sponsors (the one who owns a machine shop) now has a son on the team and apparently has time to tinker.
- The “Jones&Jones” 3 speed shift on the fly gearbox is equally as sweet.
maybe i am stuck in the past but why would you need to have more then a 2 speed transmission. the field is not that long
because… it’s really cool to have one.
lol I call shenanigan as well, I bet they’re still going w/ holonomic heh… this is either and amasingly awesome gearbox, or its taken out of something that has around 12 speeds…
like a blender, or a giant egg beater… or maybe some other sort of kitchen appliance.
4 speed is good, but 12 is overkill.
It is trying to achieve CVT like performance, but at the speeds these robots move, it would spend too much time shifting to come anywhere near the efficiency of a CVT.
You still never specified if the 12 speed was a shift on the fly…urgh
/anxious
Notice what he said for number 5 ("3 speed shift on the fly gearbox is equally as sweet).
I know team 180 (SPAM) pretty well. They have always built a simple machine which dominates at the competition. they are not that crazy to do a 12 speed transmission. They are doing a 3 speed transmission which shifts on fly. Thanks for giving it out Gary.
- Arefin.