Quote:
Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter
The new wheels look like they provide some good options... two questions though...
1) Is there (or will there) be a 4" HiGrip wheel in the softer durometers (black and/or blue)? I see the larger 6" HiGrip wheels are available in the softer durometers and that the 4" stealth wheels are.
2) Has anyone used the 6" HiGrip black or blue wheels on a drivetrain yet? Would they last an event, you think? I heard rumors about some of these new wheels being tested at IRI.
As long as parts are listed as "in stock" does that mean they're ready to order?
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Hi Nathan! Thanks for your questions.
1) We're still working on 4" versions of softer-durometer 4" HiGrip wheels.
2) We evaluated these tread materials with prototype versions of these wheels over the summer. Some of our testing included assembling a fully-weighted AM14U2 chassis and simply driving it around on tight pile carpet. A few of us here at AndyMark were drivers on our alumni teams and drove the wheels off this chassis. We found some interesting things:
77a (White HiGrip):
We feel that these wheels are a more durable option for teams' drivetrains. While they provide good traction, they make for a maintenance-free wheel for the average team. Under normal circumstances (perhaps not a super-defensive game like 2014) we feel that these wheels will last most teams the entire season.
60a (Black HiGrip):
These wheels provide an improvement in 'dynamic robot response.' Essentially we feel that these wheels are a good balance of tread-wear life and great drivetrain response. We found that these wheels caused the robot to respond to changes in robot direction (forward-backward, turning) much faster than the same chassis with white HiGrip wheels. They definitely wear faster than the 77a durometer wheels, but you trade wear life for an increase in traction. Our testing indicated that these wheels could last most teams a few matches (about a day's worth) under normal circumstances. Some teams may experience faster wear than others.
50a (Blue HiGrip):
Of all three, these wheels provide the biggest improvement in dynamic robot response. In the same drive testing, we were unable to get these wheels to noticeably slip when changing direction, or even attempting to do a 'burnout' against the wall. This testing was done with the same chassis (150lbs) and a fully charged battery. In a drivetrain, we feel that these wheels are soft enough to be considered a 'one match wheel.' Really meant to be used in emergency situations where you need the most dynamic traction (such as playing only a defensive role in the finals.) We are confident that they
will wear out in about 2-3 minutes of really aggressive driving when used in a drivetrain. That doesn't mean that they don't make great wheels for other mechanisms!
I hope this provides some insight into our evaluation of this new line of wheels. We're really excited to see what teams do with them!
And finally, items that are in stock (without any other notes about lead time) are in our hands and ready to ship.
Sincerely,
Nick Lawrence