[gburlison]

Originally Posted by Snappel328

We tried a 4 wheel drive in our kitbot, not that one, and it was very difficult to get bot to do a gradual turn to the left or right while moving forward. We eventually took those off and use giant ball-bearing wheels in the final design of our kitbot. We used the same ball-bearing wheels on Brutus, but in the front and back while we used the drive-wheels in the middle.

BurningQuestion has a lot of great information. The bottom line is that simple 4WD skid steering has to overcome the friction of the wheels to slide them sideways. Thinner wheels, omni wheels, shorter wheelbase vs track are all ways to reduce the effect of the wheels skiding sideways. Engineering is all about compromise and designing for the task that the competition presents.

Looks like you guys are of to a great start.