[Bob Steele]

Just a small note from me...

I believe that one has to think of this game more in terms of thrust vectoring rather than driving.

These robots will behave much more like spacecraft than they will cars.

In your brainstorming... think about applying force in the direction you want the robot to change its acceleration.

Earlier another post showed that the maximum acceleration (assuming a 120 pound robot and .o6 coefficient of friction) that could be achieved is around .588 m/s2...

Apply that thrust in the direction you want to change the robots acceleration.

This would seem to require that powered wheels (and all wheels need to be powered to get maximum traction) are capable of changing their vectors in 360 degrees. This is because the only thrust that the robot is capable of is from these wheels...

The only other thrust would come from those same wheels turned sideways..and that only would be when the robot is moving and it would be in the negative direction to the motion. This would bring the higher transverse coefficient of friction into play and could be a very good way to de-cellerate the robot. It could conceivably de-cellarate the robot with nearly twice the magnitude as the powered wheels...

just something to think about.

don't think driving... think piloting...and think piloting of a space craft..

thanks

good luck at the competition!!!
May the Net Force be with you!!!