[Al Skierkiewicz]

Keith,
Before you get too much more enraged, let's get on the same page. I agree that there is significant modulation of the DC voltage (when measured at the battery terminals) with varying load. I believe most everyone by now knows that is a factor in much of our power related problems. However, that effect is due more to the resistances encountered internal to the battery, at each termination, and within the wire used on the robot rather than skin effect. While there are short duration pulse type loads put on the electrical delivery system, the majority of time, the power demand is at a steady throttle value predominated by the switching frequency of the relative controllers (at less than full throttle). I have witnessed pulses in the 10-100 micro second range particularly when changing directions or with noise induced from cheap joysticks. Anyone with a scope can see those pulses on their own robot.
This thread is discussing the relative merits of solid vs. stranded wire on our robots. While I agree that skin effect is a serious issue in many aspects of electronics, it is not the major contributor to the losses encountered in our application. While stranded wire as you have pointed out, is better at minimizing skin effects, any solid conductor wire that we see is either #14 or #12 house wire that can be purchased at a local home store. When driving a robot at a steady throttle, the ~.003ohms/ft. of #14 (solid or stranded) added to the termination resistance and internal resistance of the speed controller, is going to be the predominant loss.