I’ve been looking into using a differential transmission this year, but I’ve never built one before. I’m pretty sure I could do it without too much trouble, but would it really be worth it? My thought is that I’d have a high speed for zipping around to collect loose cubes and a high torque for shoving matches. It seems like it would be a good idea, but I haven’t really seen a competition bot use one for several years, presumably due to friction and energy efficiency. Is anyone else planning to use one this year?
Competitive viability of a transmission
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My team had a differential transmission in turning point. It would transform from fast omniwheels to high torque and high friction tank treads.
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If you don’t mind me asking, how did you ‘disable’ the treads when you were using the omnis and vice versa?
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The robot is made of two parts that pivot around a point.
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I have another wack question:
As per < R22 >,
Physical modifications such as bending or cutting are permitted and may be done to legal VEX Robotics Competition metal structure or plastic components.
so could I theoretically cut the plastic gears to make the ring gear I would need for a planetary transmission? I think the distinction if it still counts as a ‘modification’ or not.
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Are you saying use a stock part (I am assuming High strength) and CNC (only way I see it being possible) the ring gear out of that?
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Yes that is definitely legal. People cut/sand off parts from gears very often. Example: most punchers use gears with some of the teeth cut off.
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The difference being I’d be cutting out the inside of the gear and making new teeth rather than just removing some teeth. I’d just be worried that it wouldn’t count as a modification since I’m more using the gear as a material to build something new rather than changing the gear to fit constraints
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Yup. CNC isn’t the only way to do that but it would probably be the most effective
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take a look at 44’s wheels from whenever:
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