Originally Posted by dlavery (Post 794056)

As one benchmark, after a bit of practice I was able to take a standard kit-bot system with trailer attached and run it from one end of the Crater (starting with the Trailer touching the Alliance Station Wall) to the far end, execute a 180-degree turn and make contact with the far wall, and run back to the starting wall in about 12 seconds. This was repeatable several times.

-dave

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Originally Posted by Teamcap.2395 (Post 792077)

Okay, so here is a crazy thought I had...
If you did a 4WD in the same configuration as a omni-wheel drive...
...(like this) (In the same fashion as "The Pre" :D )
|= Chassis Perimeter
// = Wheels
. = space filler
___________
|//...........\\|
|................|
|................|
|................|
|\\...........//|

Would the low amount of friction on the wheels allow
the robot to move like an omni-drive?

I don't know how slick the flooring is because I was not able to attend a Kick-off. :(
But from what I have heard, it sounds pretty slippery.
Any guesses on how well this would work?

Edit: Hachiban beat me to it!

Originally Posted by jreuter (Post 801497)

"I have to wonder what we did "wrong" to get it to steer. Could it be the shortened wheelbase?"

The spreadsheet model (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1917) predicts that you should NOT be able to turn a "portrait" tank drive robot, if you use the published coefficients of friction. However, I've seen several posts which claim that the .14 lateral coefficient of friction is overstated. If you put lateral coefficients more like the in-line coefficients, the model computes that you will indeed be able to turn.

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley (Post 800866)

If you have not hooked up a trailer to your robot, do it.

It may seem optimistic when you are driving just the robot, but as Paul said, it is just PAINFUL to drive with the trailer on.