Quote:
Originally posted by M. Krass
If the material on your wheel is not a smooth surface, in that it interacts with the carpet fibers, your traction will increase. There is no set factor that determines how effective this is.
Whereas the smooth surface of a wheelchair wheel propels the robot due to friction, an irregular surface that meshes with the carpet fibers propels the robot due to both friction (the sliding force between the smooth portions of the wheel and the carpet) and torque (the contact between two surfaces perpendicular to the direction of movement)
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OK - Tomorrow night when my daughter (IBApril180 on this board) is over we will post the results of her science experiment here, which I must admit surprised me. Using Brecoflex belts and FIRST spec carpet, the traction increased by DECREASING the amount of contact area! This appeared to be because the impact of additional deformation of the carpet due to higher local pressure was a higher order effect than the additional quantity of "nubs" interacting with the carpet. It threw our F = mu*N + nu*A hypothesis out the window. Stay tuned.