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Re: Top Speed
We've been experimenting with a fast robot with an offset center wheel. We did it for the smaller turning radius (less resistance to turning), and we did it rather than the omniwheels because we were worried about being too easy to push sideways.
Anyway, it sure is fast, and with our transmission it can be fast and weak or slow and strong, but we have run in to one big problem: it is nearly impossible to control.
When we turn the robot, it only turns on the center wheels, and it flies at about 1 rev / s. That may sound good but it makes it impossible to control. Luckily they improved the controller this year, so we're working on a positioning system, most likely with the 300 deg / s gyro from Analog Devices (with increased range) and optical encoders on the wheels (at least, that's what I'd like to do).
If we can get it working, I'm hoping to create a control system where the driver pushes the joystick in a certain direction and the robot turns to that same orientation and drives forward with a speed proportional to the joystick's distance from center. We may also experiment with other ways of driving.
Basically, my point is: speed is good, but make sure you design something that can be controlled by a human.
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