New drivedrain design! So, what does this do? Firstly, all of the moving gears are actuated by pistons, there are 4 motors controlling the arm, and 2 motors controlling the claw. This drivetrain is connected to the base,which has two wheel speeds, can transfer the left side’s motor power to a hanging mechanism [I2], and can transfer the right side’s motor power to a linear slide pusher mechanism that pushes stars into the far zone (spools wind string to extend and retract it), or transfer the power from both sides to the arm [H1], for when you need extra power. Tomorrow is school, which means I can finally start prototyping! Now that you know what it can do, please, leave a comment stating what you think about it/what can be improved/what I did wrong/anything else.
I believe this is far more feasible than your previous design. Good luck.
Thanks for commenting! I’m glad you think this design will do better. Were you able to understand my drawing?
Yes
Awesome! Do you think this has any benefits over just using 6 motors in the arm, 4 in the base, and 2 in the claw? Or should I not use it? It really sucks no one will comment 
People will respond; just give it time. And yes, it does. But whether or not it the friction is worth it is a whole other question.
as it turns out, in 2011-2012, these people got a innovate award for their transmission, which is no more complex than mine!
Complexity is not what the innovate award is given for. It is given for reliability, repeatability, and practicality, among other things. At the last competition I was at, another team had a planetary transmission, but did not win the design award because it was poorly implemented and poorly planned. Build quality is key. Also, let it be known that this drivetrain is not new.
+1 to this. I’ve heard so many teams wanting to try out a complex design just for the “innovate award” and “design award”
i find that for drivetrains, or the robot in general, simplicity is your best bet, 4hs or 6 turbo, is a good bet for a sub 20-pound robot, this is no way meant to discourage you from your design, I’m just saying that from my experience, less is more, for example you can have an awesome 8 motor drivetrain that can be beaten by a 4 motor one, just because your robot weight twice as much. i mean look at last years world champions, they were so simple mechanically, their advantage was being light.
I agree that complexity just for the sake of it, or to try and win an award takes you down the wrong path. The team I mentor won the Innovate Award at Worlds this year, and while the feature they highlighted was complex, it was more about the way it solved a very specific design objective (with one motor) than just overall complexity.
I believe the term is “elegance.”
On a slightly related note:
Those who believe in the KISS theory are misguided. Complexity is not a bad thing. Look at GER for example. Their toss up bot had two transmissions, a ratchet, etc and they destroyed. A solution can be as complicated as desired, but the application should be simple. I believe a better term is BEATS. (but elegance always transcends simplicity) But that’s just my opinion.
I’m actually making this complex because I feel it will give me an advantage, not to try to win an award, just saying
Someone needs to get you a copy of Solidworks or Inventor.
Agreed.
I know blender is free. It isn’t as elegant as the two you mentioned, but it’s a lot more flexible.
Autodesk Inventor is free for students. Somewhat steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it CAD isn’t very hard. Parts can be downloaded from the VEX website, and tutorials are on youtube.
I have autodesk inventor and a 3d mouse, but I just started a few days ago, so I’m not that good
I would learn the basics without a 3d mouse. While a 3d mouse can become helpful in increasing efficiency after months of getting used to it, I’m not sure it will help you learn the program, and it will probably make it so you become so used to CADing with it that if you ever have to CAD without one you’ll be significantly slowed down.
Have your ever heard of onshape? It’s basically a simplified, full cloud based cad that you use in Google chrome. I’m quite good at it if that changes things.
I can’t say I have. SolidWorks and Inventor are two of the most prominent CAD programs in the professional world, and if you plan to continue in engineering you’ll find yourself using one of those programs most likely at some point. As someone stated above Inventor is a free download for any student and SolidWorks will distribute free copies through school programs etc. (I know FIRST teams can get free sets of licences). I run a free student version of Solidworks on my laptop that I get through the FRC team I mentor and have been doing that for the last 7 years.