Thread: tank or go-cart style steering?
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Unread 23-06-2002, 22:42
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#0047 (ChiefDelphi)
  
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Pontiac, MI
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Re: A warning about tank steer
Posted by Dodd Stacy at 1/11/2001 11:22 AM EST


Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.


In Reply to: A warning about tank steer
Posted by Matt Berube on 1/11/2001 7:55 AM EST:



: What everyone said below is right. A tank drive is both simple to construct and reliable. It is also fairly agile/manuverable. BUT, it is very inefficient. It runs straight just fine but it slows down ALOT as soon as you try to turn. I would strongly suggest to anyone wanting to build a tank drive that you consider powering each side with 2 motors.

: Matt B.
: T49

A fairly simple and effective way to solve the inefficiency problem is to run 6 wheel tank drive, 3 wheels in line on each side, with the center wheels (under the machine cg) more heavily loaded than the other four. The side-skidding of the front and back wheels during turning then exerts very little drag because the wheels are very lightly loaded. The same effect can be had with track drive systems by putting a slight "rocker" or vee on the bottom of the track path. Good luck.

Dodd


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