I got a note on our guestbook to swing by...
Here's a picture from mid to early on in development. (Frame is welded at this point, but the wheels have not been put in there final positions.)
http://www.tj2.org/2002/imagepages/p2170713.html
As you can see, it's just the large tires that have been shaved down to present a rougher surface.
No special milled wheels, no funky timing belts.
We only lost traction just before our motors stalled. (So they slipped rather than stall)
We only failed in moving people that,
a. used tracks that activly dug into the carpet
b. retracted their wheels and laid the frame on the carpet.
c. that catapiller drive
Thanks for noticing us, we moved alot of people. :-)
My favorite memory is walking thru the pit, passing by a team that we just beat, watching them trying to figure how we had just ripped the goal out of there steel pincers.
The surprising thing, not very many people asked us about our Magic Carpet. It had over an 90% success rate.