[HPA_Robotics_13]

My team has been unhappy with the Skyway wheelchair wheels in past years, mostly due to their apparent lack of traction. We were considering ordering some of the omniwheels from andymark.biz. But I noticed that the coefficient of friction for the Skyway wheels is at least .2 higher in the forward/backward direction. We want to be able to have enough traction to push and resist being pushed, but we also want to be able to turn smoothly. Last year we used some Skyway pneumatic wheels that had so much friction our robot would not turn until we used vacuum hose and cable ties to make some cheap omniwheels out of them.

Maybe I'm confused as to how these sort of things work. Wouldn't it be best to have a high forward/backward coefficient of friction to have pushing power, and a low sideways coefficient of friction so that the wheels do not resist sliding sideways across the carpet when you want to turn?

(Team 833 has a problem in that we have no carpet in our shop so when we drive our 'bot around on the concrete floor we don't get a very good idea of how it is really going to maneuver. When we want an accurate field test we have to pack it into the bed of a truck and haul it 1/4 mile over to our schools carpeted cafeteria).