But there are tradeoffs, but they’re not in the form the community is used to.
Let’s go back to FRC for a second:
- In FRC there is no motor penalty for using pneumatics.
- In FRC the tradeoff is having to design pneumatics into your robot, the weight of the various components, and the cost (which is far more expensive than cost in VRC because of various components FRC requires that VRC does not).
- In FRC, there is no limit to the amount of air you can store, the number or size of cylinders you can use, and you have an on-board compressor to make sure you have enough air for an entire match. All of these should make pneumatics more attractive to teams.
However, there’s been a growing trend over the last 5-7 years where teams are choosing to NOT use pneumatics. Why?
- Pneumatics are heavy and overall teams have been trending toward smaller and lighter robots. There’s only so much weight you can remove from a pneumatics system. At the end of the day, if you’re using pneumatics in FRC, you’re dedicating at least 5-10 lbs of your weight budget to it.
- For many teams pneumatics are problematic. It’s very difficult to build a pneumatics system that does not leak air. These air leaks can be catastrophic if you’re relying on pneumatics for a mission critical part of your robot. You leave your pit full of air, you walk to your match, there’s a delay (maybe two) and next thing you know you’re down 10-20% of your air. Yes, you can recharge during a match, but this means you’re running an extra motor which means there’s less power from the battery available for your other motors.
@technik3k mentioned how a team with dome aspirations wouldn’t bet their season on a Rube Goldberg mechanism. Imagine betting your season on a hose not being cut straight, or a bad teflon tape job on a fitting, or a hose that got pulled out during a match.