Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan-o
What is everyone's thought on non-powered center-drop wheels?
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Non-powered wheels are rarely a good idea. Wheels support the weight of the robot; the weight they bear gives them traction and lets them help propel/turn the robot. If there are non-driven wheels in contact with the playing field, they provide neither propulsion nor steering capabilities, making them virtually useless. Especially as the drop wheels in a 6WD - that guarantees that half your drivetrain is always non-powered; theoretically those wheels would bear the most of the robot's weight as well. That would be a tremendous waste of resource.
Perhaps a professional can give you a more detailed, math- and physics-infused answer, but to my NEM mind, it makes sense.
In the kit of parts, there were some double sprockets. Looking at your drive train, perhaps you could replace the sprockets on your rear wheels with double sprockets; keep the inside chain run as it is, and set the outside chain to the middle wheel. That would be very simple to implement and cause minimal change to your chassis.