Thread: 6WD vs 8WD
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Unread 06-01-2011, 08:16
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Re: 6WD vs 8WD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris is me View Post
All other things equal, it both turns more easily and is turned more easily. The effect IMO is slight.

However, 6wd "mid rock" when resting between its outer wheels (only on the middle 2) has no resistance to turning. I have no idea if this phenomenon actually happens during a 6wd turn or not.
This phenomenon does in fact happen with some machines.

Our 2008 robot would often get spun around if we were hit while turning at a high speed. It was 6WD with approximately 15" effective wheel base (distance between the wheels that were driven on, either middle to front, or middle to center.)

One of the quirks I've noticed about 6WD's is that the driving wheels can change depending on the game and manipulator placement. Again, our 2008 robot would go from driving on the rear 4 wheels to driving on the front 4 wheels once we picked up a track ball. This wasn't really an issue because it gave us a point of rotation that was more around the center point of our robot and trackball, but I would imagine that this could get annoying with another game piece depending on the manipulator.

8WD's rotate a bit differently than 6WD's. The point of rotation is almost always in the center of the robot, and they often rotate more easily than a 6WD depending on what the center wheel base is. Personally I prefer driving 6WD over 8WD because I find them to be more stable.
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