[feilmeier]

Actually, a 500 lb robot will get more frictional force, but on the same account will have a larger inertia, thus retarding it's acceleration. By simulating an increase weight, you will increase the frictional force, but leave the inertia alone, thereby allowing you to accelerate at a faster rate.

120 lb robot will generate roughly 32 Newtons of frictional force, which will then give it an acceleration of .58 m/s^2.

A 120 lb robot with an additional 10 Newtons(120 lb is roughly 534 N) will generate roughly 32.5 Newtons of frictional force, which, when related in the F=MA equation, will give you an acceleration of roughly .6 m/s^2.

As you can see, this is a very small increase, only leading to about 0.3 m/s or so of end velocity at the end of the run of the entire 54 ft/ 16.5 m. To make this effective, a comparable amount of pressure must be induced to allow a robot to perform significantly better. In a collision, the robot that has the higher rate of speed in this game will probably win out, and because of the low coefficient of friction, the collisions will very likely be semi-eliastic.

As to the original post, my personal leaf blower can exert about 10 N when in contact with concrete. I have a feeling that the team with the best manuvability will have a nice system to direct airflow, and power the wheels