Has 6 wheeled designs surpased tank treads

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Andrew,
If you ever saw the current demand of a tank tread turning on carpet, you wouldn't even think of using it. You can't beat the traction moving forward or back but you will eat a battery trying to turn in a single match. Those that work have some method of raising the track so only a small portion is in contact during turns. Even four wheel and six wheel drives suffer from high current demands unless they employ some method of raising some wheels in turns or use omni wheels on some of the wheels (i.e. front wheels).
If you were to tell me that in driving your robot draws less then forty amps total current but you wonder why your battery runs dead in less than two minutes, I would be able to tell you are using tank drive without ever having seen your robot.

I have always had this question, it always looks like that a robot with tankthreads on turns so much easier and this past season i have seen teams struggling to turn with wheels on. How is it that the robot looks like its turning to easily and according to Mr. Skierkiewicz when the robot turns (which has threads on) drains battery? I know our battery used to drain very fast every match. I have never worked on a tankthread system before. any advice will be appreciated... thanks.