Pneumatic Wheels vs Treads

[jee7s]

Originally Posted by lopsided98

Also, I don't think pneumatic wheels on the kitbot frame are representative of their full capabilities, because the kitbot does not have much ground clearance, which contributed to it getting stuck in the moat.

Aside from ground clearance, does the Ri3D Indiana team say if those are 6" or 8" wheels? My very un-calibrated eye seems to think those are 6" wheels in the video. If that's the case, consider that the 8" variety may provide better performance.

[James Juncker]

Originally Posted by jee7s

Aside from ground clearance, does the Ri3D Indiana team say if those are 6" or 8" wheels? My very un-calibrated eye seems to think those are 6" wheels in the video. If that's the case, consider that the 8" variety may provide better performance.

From what I see on their twitter their wheels see to be the 8" variety because of the oranges... but if you look at the holes along the side you can see that the wheels go across about 7.5 holes of length so 7.5 inches and the pneumatic wheels are just under 8" from my measurments.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by jee7s

Aside from ground clearance, does the Ri3D Indiana team say if those are 6" or 8" wheels? My very un-calibrated eye seems to think those are 6" wheels in the video. If that's the case, consider that the 8" variety may provide better performance.

Those are the 8" AM pneumatic wheels though that 8" is a nominal dimension and they measure out between 7.5" and 7.75" in the real world.

Another thing to note is that AM assembled that chassis with the wheels in the "long 8" wheel configuration" using the belts included in their 8" pneumatic wheel kit.

You can use the belts included in the 14u3 kit for the 6" wheel square configuration, put the wheels in those holes for a shorter wheelbase.

I believe that is what Snow Problem did and that is what we did at Team [Redacted]. That shorter wheel base causes the front of the robot to be higher when the front wheel has cleared the ramp and is hanging out in space. That helps get the front bottom corner on the frame over the rock wall. We did find that it hitting it at speed works better than trying to crawl over it.