[Al Skierkiewicz]

Mr. Rush,
Treads of this type were common at one time and the color of the cleats that appear in your photo, appear to be made of aluminum, another common design of years past. It is to that type of design to which I made reference. As to the tripping of breakers, I would bet that on carpet they were tripping. Not as often as other designs due to the small turning radius but there none the less. Rack it up to thousands of hours of experience with FIRST robots gained over a 13 year period. As a rule of thumb, any drive with high side friction will send the motors into stall or near stall. On the van door motors in the photo , that is 69 amps per motor as I remember. As to the reference to rules, I have to interject that as a Lead Robot Inspector. Often team members make decisions based on their expectation of rules and neglect to examine closely the changes that occur every year following kickoff. For instance, there is no guarantee that the motors you have used in the past will be present in 2009.