Retail will be $99.99 for the basic frame.
Additional parts are available (battery holder, bumper mounts)
Recap of our day is here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/one-day-build.html
Does it come in black?
how are chains tensioned?
It was cool watching this progress as the day went on. Great price tag too!
I imagine the center to center spacing is such that an exact number of chain links can be made without the need to tension.
It is awesome to see things like this being done.
EDIT: Double post, seem to be missing the delete button…
Yea, I thought that too, but then i saw how close the chain on the 8wd side of the bot is to the floor and it made me a bit worried 
I don’t think they tried to market it to the billionaire, spelunking, base-jumping crowd.
CIMs are going to look comically large on all the smaller robots this year. And look how much room the battery takes up!
So I noticed the talent working this project included 2 VPs, a director, a mechnanical engineer, a marketing manager, 2 engineering interns, and 1 other intern. Being an engineering planning and cost analyst, I wondered “what would this project cost?” Specifically, if these people were to bid this as a contract, or charge it direct to the company, what would be the price tag.
Assumption: all 8 employees worked from 7:15am - 7:00 pm (11.75 hours)
The answer: Between $10,000 - $20,000
(ambiguity to not reveal proprietary information that would cost me my career)
Thank you IFI and VEX team for your many many hours of hard work and donations to support STEM education.
Students, consider this every night when you are at your build space. Look around the room, see all of the mentors there making your build season happen, and consider what their time is worth. If 1 day of 8 people working is worth between 10-20K to an engineering company, what is 6 weeks?
I sure hope so.
We know that efficiency and speed increase by 17% when a material is anodized.
You can’t put a price tag on labors of love.
The founders / owners of IFI are both committed to supporting the FRC program. Tony & Bob have made it very clear that they want us to continue doing cool things like “drive in a day” to help support the community; this is great news for people like myself and the others in our company who came in on Sunday and are HAPPY to donate our time to projects like this.
I think it is fantastic that the co-owner and CTO of a multi-million dollar international company would give up his Sunday to play with robots. It makes me proud to work here.
Also… This was one of the first design projects that I’ve had the chance to work on with both Bob & Raul – it was a VERY cool experience to collaborate on such a short project with two such impressive designers.
-John
Looks like a great project, thanks IFI.
Care to explain the different wheel spacing on each side of the drive?
They built it to accommodate both 6 and 8 wheel drive designs. They wanted to test both on the prototype so they did one on each side.
Does anyone have an idea when this will be available to purchase?
We have it ready for purchase now!
Details on the final VEXpro Drive in a Day Chassis Kit and Accessories are available here:
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/chassis-and-framing/2013-drive-in-a-day.html
Best,
Ricky
Looks great! I have a couple questions about it though:
-What kind of torsional stiffness does it have?
-How much does the frame weigh?
-What are the configurable size dimensions?
-What are the axle diameters and what is your method of containing and tensioning them? (It’s very difficult to tell from the picture.)
Thanks, Bryan
And yet another great piece from the group down in Texas.
Call me lazy, but what is the “as shown” price?
What is “Narrow Wheel Config” vs. “Wide Wheel Config”?
I was under the impression this chassis was setup for a single configuration (23.5" x 31.5" “long orientation”). Is “Narrow Wheel Config” vs. “Wide Wheel Config” referring to the chassis configuration or the width of the wheels (i.e. 1", 1.5", 2")?
Went live today. http://www.vexrobotics.com/2013-drive-in-a-day.html
$99.99 for chassis kit
$9.99 gearbox mount bracket for short/wide robot
$9.99 gearbox mount bracket for long/narrow robot
$19.99 chassis brace kit for short/wide robot
$19.99 chassis brace kit for long/narrow robot
$29.99 bumper mounting bracket kit (4 side / 4 front/back brackets)
$9.99 chassis accessory rail (2 pack)
$19.99 battery mount kit
A few answers to several questions:
“Narrow Wheel Config” is for 1" wheels
“Wide Wheel Config” is for 1.5" and 2" wheels (shown in the photos)
The chassis length (31.5") is fixed. The width can be reduced from 23.5 in 1/2" increments.
Weight is posted at 6.83 lbs (metal only) for the 6 piece chassis.
A complete BOM is coming.
