Dear Sirs,
I am currently working on the Tug of War challenge with my students, and one of the activities involves “Comparing Gear Trains.” The activity outlines three different gear train configurations (1:1, 1:3, and 3:1). Could you advise on which configuration is best suited to win the Tug of War competition and explain why?
Additionally, my students are struggling to modify the BaseBot using the links provided, such as this one: Instructions Online by Cadasio.com. Specifically, where should the motors be placed? It seems they don’t fit in the suggested location—am I missing something?
Thank you in advance for your guidance.
Best regards,
Debora Noemi Inouye
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I just realized that I posted the wrong message before. Could somebody please help me with this issue? Thank you very much in advance!
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Hi @Debora_Inouye,
For your first question, the Comparing Gear Trains Activity in Lesson 3 is designed to help students understand that:
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2 gears of the same size reverses the direction of rotation
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A Bigger gear driving a smaller gear results in more speed and less torque (it helps me to think of force as ‘power’, even though that’s not a technical definition 
)
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A Smaller gear driving a bigger gear results in more torque and less speed.
Because students modify their robots for the Tug of War Competition, the best gear configuration could vary depending on their individual robots, so I can’t tell which configuration is best suited to win. Students should choose a gear train based on what they have learned throughout the Unit and how it works on their robot design. Because they can iterate on their robots, they can test different gear trains to see what works best.
For your second question, the 3D images of the gear trains are provided as guidance but not specific build instructions. Your motors do not need to change position - they can be left as they are build on the BaseBot.
I hope that helps! if you are a PD+ All Access member and you need to talk further, feel free to schedule a 1-on-1!
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