[Paul Copioli]

The MAXIMUM force your robot can put out is:

Fmax = Mu * Weight

Mu is the static coefficient of friction

Weight is the weight of your robot plus any other weight transfered to your robot.

Experimenting with treads that increase your coeficient of friction is well worth the effort. Determining Mu is really easy.

Mu = tan (Theta), where Theta is the angle of a platform with respect to ground.

Take your robot from last year and lock out the wheels. Lift a platform until the robot starts to slip. Measure the angle and take the tangent .... poof! you have Mu. Since Mu DOES NOT depend on weight, you can make a simple test fixture to test out different materials.

Just as an interesting point, if you could have traction even when the platform was at 90 degrees to ground you would have an infinite Mu.

Paul