Turning Quality Metrics

[JVN]

Originally Posted by JamesTerm

John,

I've reviewed the 4WD paper these past few days. It seems to me that 4WD is not as forgiving on center of mass as 6WD. That is a great paper... I'm tempted to take the starting equations into a dynamic direction for actual simulation.

Yes. 6WD is just two 4WD robots in one. The "rock" of the 6WD alternates between the two different 4WDs, which each have a very short length wheel-base. You get the benefits of a short-length wheel-base without the tradeoffs on stability (if the robot starts to tip, the other wheels are there to catch it).

Once you plug the equivalent 4WD config (from a 6WD robot) into Chris' equations, you can see why it is great at turning. Especially because in this case, the CoM is usually close to being between two of the 4 wheels in contact (the middle 2 of the 6WD).

Physics still works.

-John