Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TomWx
First are omniwheels. These are good when you have a finite amount of space and want to go with a simple, two-wheel drive train. Omniwheels have more control than a castor would.
|
That’s a really bad idea. With an only omniwheel drive base you'll end up just getting pushed around with very little forwards/backwards traction.
Quote:
|
...Lastly, pneumatic wheels. These are a good standby. Most of the time, they're effective. They come in the kit (cheap),
|
I don't know what kit you're looking at, but for as long as I've participated they haven't put any pneumatic wheels in the kit. There were wheelchair wheels(2 6" and 2 9" in 2003/2002), but those are just solid rubber, not pneumatic.
Quote:
|
... and on any smooth surfaces, like last year's lexan surfaces.
|
The surface you're thinking of is HDPE. The ramp walls were lexan, but I don't think anyone was driving on them(at least not intentionally

)
And now onto the actual thread topic...
Be careful when picking out wheels with a lot of traction. Its great when you're going straight, but unless you design carefully you may have trouble turning. For example, last year my team used really nice
solid neoprene wheels. They provided great traction on both the carpet and the HDPE, but we had a lot of trouble turning since we used 6 wheels. We were using only 2 drill motors so we ended up tripping(or near tripping) the breakers any time we tried to turn.
To make sure you won't run into the same problems, try reading Chris Hibner's white paper on drive train basics. You'll be able to find it in the white papers section when it comes back.