[kamocat]

I was doing some traction tests with a stationary robot (measuring the pull of the robot at different drive speeds). I noticed about halfway through that there was a smell of urine with a hint of burning plastic. Upon closer inspection, I found the regalith to be wearing away, leaving small piles of dust. It had by no means worn flat, but the fact that the floor wears away before the wheels worries me for two reasons:
1. Regalith is a fiberglass composite. That effectively means it leaves fiberglass dust when it wears away. I handle fiberglass almost as carefully as I handle asbestos (that is, not at all, whenever possible).
2. At the arena, the robots all start in approximately the same position. If a majority of the robots start by spinning out as fast as possible to gain the most traction, these starting positions will soon have small piles of dust there, affecting both the air quality and the traction (or lack thereof).


I was finding that, as I sped up the drivetrain, the traction oscillated between 10lbs and an increasingly higher pull (20lbs when I stopped). I hypothesize that if the floor did not wear, then the traction would have remained at a little less than 10lbs, however, I have neither the funds nor approval for continued destructive testing.