2016 Motor Controllers

Blog Date: 
Thursday, October 29, 2015 - 11:09

 

Today’s blog post was written by Kate Pilotte, FIRST Robotics Competition’s Kit of Parts Manager.

You may have noticed that every now and then we release information about a season before its Kickoff; sometimes it’s because we think it’s just that helpful to know ahead of time, sometimes it’s because we’re being playful, and sometimes it’s an accident.

This instance is the first one.

We want you to know that the list of legal motor controllers for the 2016 season is expanding.

In addition to the controllers permitted in the 2015 season…

  • Jaguar Motor Controller (Part #s: MDL-BDC, MDL-BDC24, & 217-3367)
  • Talon Motor Controller (Part #s: CTRE_Talon, CTRE_Talon_SR, & am-2195)
  • Talon SRX Motor Controller (Part #s: 217-8080 & am-2854)
  • Victor 884 Motor Controller (Part #: VICTOR-884-12/12)
  • Victor 888 Motor Controller (Part #: 217-2769)
  • Victor SP Motor Controller (Part #s: 217-9090 & am-2855)

 

…we’ve also approved the following devices:

(mindsensors.com has been a long time mentor of FIRST Team 540 and designed this controller jointly with Team 540 students. This controller is manufactured locally with the help of FIRST students. SD540 features include brake/coast, direction selection, 60-amp continuous current and 100 amps peak. It will be available as a single unit, dual or quad banks. They expect availability in early November.)

(REV Robotics is a Texas-based company founded by two long-time FIRST team mentors. The Spark features 60-amp continuous current with passive cooling, bi-directional limit switch inputs on-board for smart mechanism control, RGB LED status indicator, and digital brake/coast mode. Sparks will be available for purchase in November from Amazon and REVRobotics.com.)

 

Every team will get a voucher to order three Victor SPs or two Talon SRXes from VEX Robotics. Additionally, Rookie teams will receive 2 Victor SPs in their Kickoff Kit. There will also be limited quantities of Victor 888s, Victor SPs, Talon SRXes, and Sparks in FIRST Choice.

There’s another nugget of information that you should know… what motor controllers won’t be allowed to control. Considering their obsolescence and resulting scarcity on the market, BaneBots’ 550 and 775 motors will no longer be included on the list of legal motors.

For technical questions about any of the legal controllers, we recommend you contact the Supplier directly.

We’re excited to work with all of the motor controller suppliers for this upcoming season! 

Comments

Submitted by Mark on Thu, 10/29/2015 - 14:15.

Bad move. Removing 2 motors with the highest power to weight ratio??? That leaves the 9015 or a bag motor. There's a big gap between these motors and the CIMs and if they limit the total number, you can kiss a high performance swerve goodbye. Hope there are some substitutes coming or there will be a bunch of disappointed people.

Submitted by Kate on Thu, 10/29/2015 - 15:04.

Added alternate AndyMark part numbers for the Talon SRX and Victor SP.

Submitted by Charles on Thu, 10/29/2015 - 19:47.

Other than the vouchers and FIRST Choice, no motor controllers will be included in the KOP for non-rookie teams?

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 10/29/2015 - 22:59.

Many teams recycle parts from old robots. We should encourage re-use of the BaneBots motors instead of dismissing them just because they are no longer commercially available.

Submitted by Bearbotics 2358 on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 10:25.

I could not agree more, why not let us continue to use what we have used in the past that we know will work for us in the future, veteran teams rely heavily on reusing items from past years to help keep costs down, remember not all teams have budgets in the 5 figure range at their disposal.

Submitted by jim wick on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 07:50.

Real mistake to eliminate the 550's and 775's. These have been real workhorses on our bot for years and mate nicely with BB transmissions. We must have a dozen of these in workable condition, some of them unused. Why not allow them, and if they really become hard to obtain they will just fade away eventually.

Submitted by kpilotte on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 10:33.

Their obsolescence renders them illegal in FRC is because not all teams will be able to get them. Typically, motors permitted in FRC are either on the market or generally available from salvage yards. 

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 11:30.

Our team have talked to BaneBots who told us that they simply are getting out of the business of buying and reselling the motors (they didn't make them - they bought them from a supplier in China), so they transferred that distribution to RobotShop.com. They show the RS-550 and RS-775s in their store now. http://www.robotshop.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=rs-775+motor&order=s...

Submitted by kpilotte on Mon, 11/02/2015 - 12:51.

We haven't been able to confirm that any alternate motors with similar labels are identical to the obsolete motors supplied by BaneBots. 

Submitted by Jerry on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 16:02.

So if someone could identify a commercial source of 550 and 775 motors that are indeed identical to the motors supplied by BB, then the 550 and 775 would be legal for 2016?

Submitted by Kate on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 16:50.

It's not that that straightforward... there are several considerations that go in to deciding if something is legal in the competition... availability is one element, but also technical specs, cost to FIRST (if being included in the KOP), cost to teams, other motors already available, quality, game challenge...

Submitted by Jerry on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 09:47.

Would it be possible to provide a definitive check list of exactly what needs to happen to make the 550 and 775 legal for 2016? I suspect both motors are available at a good cost with equivalent technical specs. Removal of these two motors leaves a big hole in motor selection options. And I suspect we are not the only ones with that challenge. We are happy to do the leg work here if we know what the checklist looks like.

Submitted by Gordon Stallings on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 23:15.

What good are 60A continuous motor controllers if we are limited to circuits with 40A fuses?

Submitted by Kevin O'Connor on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 15:23.

The Power Distribution Panel uses 40A auto resetting circuit breakers. These breakers can sustain a 150% overload (60A on a 40A breaker) for (very roughly) 5-45 seconds before tripping. For this reason, and for safety margin purposes, FIRST specifies that motor controllers should be able to handle 60A continuous draw for FRC approval. You can find the full spec sheet for the 40A breakers here: http://www.snapaction.net/pdf/MX5%20Spec%20Sheet.pdf

Submitted by Austin on Mon, 11/09/2015 - 23:47.

Banebots is no longer selling the 550's and 775's. That makes it kind of hard to use them. I remember in 2012 when there were a limited number of Fisher Price motors available. They were highly sought after motors. The resulting race to find and buy them all wasn't fun.

Submitted by Frank Merrick on Thu, 11/12/2015 - 10:56.

We’ve received an additional question about motor legality in 2016. As we specifically call out two motors above from the 2015 list that will not be legal in 2016, teams can safely make the assumption that all other motors on the 2015 list will be legal. These may not be the only legal motors for 2016, but all the motors on the 2015 list, excepting the two noted, can be assumed safe to purchase.

Submitted by Rick on Fri, 11/20/2015 - 09:17.

FIRST Choice is offering PG71 gearmotors. They use the RS775 motor. Is this a legal motor for 2016 and beyond?

Submitted by Dave on Fri, 11/27/2015 - 22:40.

Like others have mentioned its disheartening to learn that a powerful motor that works well with a modular transmission has been removed from our available pool of motors.

The KoP lists a few AndyMark motor/transmissions.
http://firstchoicebyandymark.com/fc16-004

Can we use an AndyMark 775 motor with a Banebots transmission?

Submitted by Matthew Lawson on Fri, 12/04/2015 - 16:53.

I just called AndyMark and they say their 550s and 775s are legal--and that it says so on the blog, but I don't see it anywhere, conclusively, on the blog. Given that FirstChoice has a PG77 with an RS775, I guess we have an answer, but can we get definitive confirmation from FIRST?

Submitted by kpilotte on Sun, 12/06/2015 - 13:49.

Frank posted a comment above that hopefully helps: We’ve received an additional question about motor legality in 2016. As we specifically call out two motors above from the 2015 list that will not be legal in 2016, teams can safely make the assumption that all other motors on the 2015 list will be legal. These may not be the only legal motors for 2016, but all the motors on the 2015 list, excepting the two noted, can be assumed safe to purchase.

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