Quote:
Originally Posted by TheModMaster8
The reason you would want to do this is because it prevents the friction of a standard 4 wheeled pneumatic as well as, a 6 wheeled drive that has little to no wheel drop. The amount of centripetal force the robot experiences while turning either on a dime, or steering (like a car) causes the robot to stabilize on the center wheels, allowing it to turn easier... on the other hand, if wheel drop is too small, then the robot will not be able to achieve the same results because it doesn't have enough clearance to get on it's center wheels, this in turn causes more strain on the motors as well as the battery level. So basically what I am getting at is, that all wheel elevation/drops will work fine for their intended purposes, but 0.375" has the upper hand in terms of maneuverability as well as motor strain.
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The concept is kind of correct. Still, I think what EricH was getting at was that 0.375" is not the absolute number due to other factors. For example, a drivetrain 48" long should have a different dropped distance compared to a drivetrain 20" long. A drop of .375" might not have the "upper hand" in both situations.
Thinking about it, there must be a holy grail equation for the optimal wheel drop based on distance between wheels and the size of the wheels, which always yields the optimal angle of rocking. Has this been done before? Am I oversimplifying this, missing other variables that could affect the optimal angle of rocking? If it's just geometry it seems simple to just experimentally determine the optimal drop, which I would define as "able to turn while rocking as little as possible"