Pneumatic Wheels

[Steve P]

Have the pneumatic wheels given any teams trouble? Were looking to use the 8'' diameter ones on our robot, and its really hard to swap wheels with our custom frame, so I don't want to keep them on if they're going to pop/rip/tear on me. Just wondering about people experiences with them and if they're durable?

[BoyWithCape195]

I have seen many problems with pneumatic wheels. One very good example was last year during the final match to see who would be the National Champions. If i remember correctly, the gorillas popped a tire, and that could have possibly lost them Nationals. Maybe, maybe not, but popped tires are a very big negative to using pneumatic tires.

[MikeJ675]

if you can get them foam filled, the reliability shouldn't be an issue. If it will fit, fun-noodles can be substituded for proper filling(just don't let them sit on the ground when not in use or they'll deform)

Carefree tires are also great
http://robotcombat.com/marketplace_carefree.html
rims and lots of other nice parts are at
http://robotcombat.com/marketplace_wheels.html

[Gary Dillard]

I don't recall seeing the popped tire, but I can tell you from some measured traction testing we did for various teams at nationals 3 years ago, pneumatic tires had better traction on the carpet by far than stock solid rubber tires. Brekoflex belts showed the best, followed pretty closely by the diamond web belting from McMaster Carr.

If you're going with stock wheels, I'd say go pneumatics although we don't have any experience with them. If custom, go with the diamond belts because of cost and lead time. And if you've got the time and money and want to kick everyone else's butt, go with Brekoflex.

3 guesses what we're using.

[BoyWithCape195]

If you watch the archived match on the nasa robotics site, you will notice/ hear about the flat tire. Match 3 of 3