Best Drive Train

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Shouldn't those factor into your strategy?

NOT true at all. If your wheel base is wider than it is long... or actually, just read Chris' paper http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1443

We had Chris come in and give a seminar at Michigan State Championships on drivetrains. His insight is pretty amazing. He actually talked about this paper, and how it really no longer applies to FIRST robots. It'll tell you if you can turn, but beyond that the physics don't really work with FIRST anymore. The paper was written when teams used metal cleats that acted very different than roughtop does now. He went into the friction characteristics of interlocking materials versus ideal ones, and talked about torsional stiffness, weight placement, etc.

For instance - a major mistake our team has made twice is to directly center the weight in a 6 wheel drivetrain over the center wheel (2011, 2013) on a semi-tall bot. The result is a robot whose center of gravity constantly shifts. That creates a really ugly chatter through turns even with a very stiff frame. It also doesn't like driving straight because the weight shifts when you accelerate then shift forward again when you hit the brakes. It was really eye-opening, and explained why our driver spent the majority of the year driving with only two wheels on the floor