Turning Quality Metrics

[IKE]

I concur with Chris on there must be an "optimal" amount of scrub.

We seem to start the season with too much grip and work our way towards better manueverability as the season continues. Some is software, some if practice with the driver, but often it is wheel selection adjustments to improve manueverability.

In 2008, I did a spreadhseet tool that calcuatled turning power through various corners at various speeds. We tried a lot of wheel configuration that year and ended up with an asymmetric mix due to the circle track "only turn left" style of driving. I want to say that our most "loose" chassis only required 50W differential to start steering. Our heaviest scrub "for that year" was around 300W (this would ahve been a good configuration in most other games). Our final configuration required about a 150W difference. This allowed the driver to keep the outside on full and just release the inside to initiate the turn. With the 300W configuration, the driver actually had to reverse the inside ever so slighttly to get the robot to turn which slowed it down immensely.

You could probably create a software test for "goodness" by using a gyro and inducing a full power spin for 720 or 1080 degrees, and then removing power. Speed to complete the turns, and amount of overshoot after turns are completed would likely correlate with some overall driveability goodness.