Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

Kind of like bouncing on the bumper of a truck stuck in mud? Interesting idea.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

WildStangs removed the vid. because they are not willing to share their results of the test.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

And this knowledge is proven/justified how...? Baseless assumptions aren't good. I'm sure there was a good reason for them to remove it. Whatever it is, it's pointless to speculate until we're told.

That being said: Teams that think in the boxes that we've gotten used to over the last few years WILL fail. I'm willing to bet on it. A standard skid-steer robot will be weighed down and messed up by the trailer. Only robots with specifically designed steering and control mechanisms will be able to move around with enough speed and control to make themselves useful on a strong, competitive level. Just ask anyone who's driven up here in the north about how to drive on Ice, and you might learn some good tips on how to control your bot.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

The wheels can not be angled as you are talking about.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

As we have found out in tests, it is better to go to full power right away thatn try to slowly speed things up, since kenitic and static friction are so close to each other that it makes no diffrence but it is easier for the drivers to control.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

Hmm, your tests seem to disagree with ours...

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

The axle going through the wheel can point north, south, east or west, or any spot in between the cardinal directions. The axle cannot point at an up or down angle.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

WHEELS WHEELS AND MORE WHEELS. Not in line wheels but hub to hub to hub wheels. like a 16 to 20 wheel drive. all wheels drive all wheels have friction. You need as much surface on the ground as you can to get more friction. ie you have a car with the right inflation on all the tires you get the best gas per mile.
they always tell you to check you tire pressure. now let out 10 lbs what happens to you gas mileage (it goes down right) you did not change the weight of the car you just changed how much surface hit the ground which in turned gave you more friction. and that is what you need more surface to hit the ground. the weigh divided over the wheels don't matter the bot still stays the same weight

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

Simply put, this is incorrect. The friction force is equal to the normal force times the coefficient of friction. This has already been discussed numerous times. Increasing surface area on an ideal surface will never increase the friction.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

We found out a few interesting things today. we mounted 4 of the rover wheels on the back of our 2008 lowered center 6wd and drove it on the FRP. the weight is biased pretty far back so the front never touched down. right away you could push it around really easy like they did at the kickoff. after wearing out a few batteries driving around, the wheels got a a significant amount more traction. we then put a small scale in front of the front bumper and told the driver to push as hard as he could without spinning. it pushed with about 35 lbs of force until the wheels broke loose, when the scale went down to about 19 lbs.
This type of drivetrain (long 6wd, lowered center) drives like a smaller version of a wide robot as long as it stays on the rear 4 wheels turning was pretty easy but we haven't hooked up a trailer yet.

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

our team had an awesome idea!!!!!! we are gunna use a high speed fan to create traction because the fan will wanna stick to the regolith when air is being sucked in haha:D

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

1 more thing i forgot have an awesome 2009 and good luck:yikes:

Re: How can we drive on this new floor?
 

This has been deemed illegal by the GDC. Any method of increasing traction is illegal this year, which would include attempts at increasing your normal force.