Please see the update below on the Kit of Parts Drive System Option from the Kit of Parts team:

The 2016 Kickoff Kit will again include a drive base kit, kind of. As we’ve done in recent history, Veteran teams can choose to receive a Product Donation Voucher (PDV) from AndyMark instead of the KOP Drive System at Kickoff. Rookie teams will automatically receive the KOP Drive System.

The PDV will again be worth $450 and can be used on AndyMark parts. To accommodate orders and lead times, the option to opt out of the KOP Drive System for the PDV will be available ONLY from 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on Thursday (tomorrow!), 10/1, to 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on Friday, 10/16. During that time, the option to receive the PDV in place of the KOP Drive System will be found in the “What’s New” section on the right side bar of the TIMS main screen.

"What's New" in TIMS

NOTE: If teams do not choose to opt out of the KOP Drive System in favor of the PDV by 10/16, they will be assigned the ‘default’ option of receiving the KOP Drive System as part of their Kickoff Kit.

To help you make your decision, we can give you some general information about this year’s KOP Drive System.

• The drive base is similar to the AM14U2 from 2015, but some minor changes have been made to address feedback from teams (for example, belts are included for long, wide, and square configurations).
• Features are designed such that they enable a team to execute basic elements of game play.
• Design is such that the drive base can be assembled and driving by a small team with limited resource within two days.

We recognize that we are asking you to choose to receive or not receive a partially defined product, which can lead to frustration. Our goal is to give you as much information as possible without revealing details about the game. For example, the limited ground clearance on last year’s KOP Drive System implied that the 2015 field would be relatively flat, while a drive base with significant ground clearance would imply some type of obstacle on the field that robots would likely have to traverse. If we revealed details such as ground clearance, we would be giving away too much of the game.

Here are the 2016 KOP Drive Sytem profile drawings of the cross-section of each of the three pieces: the end sheet, the outside sheet, and the inside sheet.