[Al Skierkiewicz]

We have used all kinds of wheels in the past. For a while we were even making wheels out of lexan, cut on a laser cutter. Had a good grip on carpet but melted with a lot of slip. We have used aluminum with tread (belting)attached also manufactured. The shaft design and implementation changed over the years but it allows us to customize for wheel encoder mounting and bearing implementations. I would stay away from plywood particularly in a game like this past year. The constant stress coming over the bumps would have stressed the laminations and left little slivers of wood all over the field. I would guess that plywood would weigh more than the aluminum version we are currently using.