Quote:
Originally Posted by Chak
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"
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Factors that determine the optimal wheel drop:
- Wheelbase length
- Wheelbase width
- Chassis rigidity
- Deformation characteristics of wheels (pneumatic/compliant vs rigid, tire pressure, etc)
- Traction / CoF of wheels
- Compressibility of wheel tread
- Surface robot is driving on
A lot of these are very tangible things, but others are less tangible. For most non-pneumatic wheels, it seems 1/8" is a safe "drop" number that covers a wide variety of wheelbase lengths and widths, even if it's sometimes more than necessary. The rock caused by 1/8" drop has a very minor effect on most manipulators.
Pneumatic wheel drop is more complicated and I have less experience with it, so I don't know a "perfect" number for that. Experimentally determining this is probably your best option.