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Unread 12-01-2011, 06:29
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skimoose skimoose is offline
Parent/Mentor/Engineer
AKA: Arthur Dutra
FRC #0228 (GUS)
Team Role: Electrical
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Meriden, Connecticut
Posts: 568
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Re: 6 Wheel Drive - Rubber or Slick?

It depends on your gear ratios, wheel diameter, and whether or not your frame is set up for dropped center wheels which all affect the friction against turning. If you are doing dropped center wheels you should have no problem overcoming the friction from side scrub when turning. If you don't have the engineering mentors to calculate these forces, you can always rely on building and testing your robot on carpet similar to the playing field. Make sure your drive base is weighted to the final maximum weight allowed. I've seen rookie teams build and test on linoleum or similar hard surfaces only to find that when the robot was fully assembled or placed on carpet it couldn't handle the turning loads.

We've had no problems with turning with any of our 6WD robots with traction wheels at all positions. They were dropped center designs.
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2009 CT Regional Motorola Quality Award
2010 VRC Connecticut Championship Winners & Amaze Award
2010 VRC Championship Divisional Energy Award
2010 WPI Regional Winner
2010 WPI Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2011 WPI Regional Chairman's Award
2012 WPI Regional Finalists