"Halftrack" robot drivetrain

[Grim Tuesday]

Our team has done tank treads for the past 6 years, so we have done quite a bit of research in the topic. If you are going to use treads, consider them just like wheels: Use 6 rollers on the bottom and drop the middle one (3 on each side). We used an inverted fan belt as our tread; you have the sproket from the gearbox pushing down on the top and driving it. If my explanation wasn't very good, the full CAD of our latest robot is on FRCDesigns . Team 639.

[Racer26]

IIRC, didn't the Aim High triplets (1114/1503/1680) have a half-track with extra wheel configuration?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

IIRC, didn't the Aim High triplets (1114/1503/1680) have a half-track with extra wheel configuration?

Full tank treads in '06. I recall hearing that they had a ton of trouble with treads coming off or jamming that year.

[Racer26]

They had an issue where if you pushed them sideways in a particular set of circumstances, it would tear a track.

[SenorZ]

Even a between-the-wheels tank tread would be useful (4wd) to scoot you along the barrier.

[bf2416]

We too were looking at using the half track set up to maneuver the bump, but our lack of experience with tracks has us a little weary of the idea. If the track had some sort of simple suspension, the track would definitely be the way to go. All this said, we are a rookie team and have never worked on anything even remotely this complex before, although I do like the idea of the half track tread system.

[SimulationX]

Originally Posted by bf2416

If the track had some sort of simple suspension, the track would definitely be the way to go.

I think that it's the suspension design that's the best feature of a tracked robot. if you can figure out a way to power each wheel yet still have each wheel move independently on its own suspension, you would be able to go over the bumps and ramps while avoiding the weak points of the track system, particularly involving turning and being de-tracked